Ashton Kutcher at the New York City marathon… Harry Styles had to cancel… The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame… Jessica Simpson sparks concern… and Aaron Carter is dead at 34

Listen to “Showbiz – Nov 7, 2022” on Spreaker.

Ashton Kutcher was among the 50K runners in the NYC Marathon yesterday. This was Ashton’s first marathon and he finished at a not-too-shabby 3:54:1. Ashton’s run also raised over $1M for a charity he and his ex-wife Demi Moore created about 15 years ago called Thorne, which combats the online sexual exploitation and trafficking of children. They decided to start this charity after watching an episode of “Dateline” on that very grim subject. Ashton wasn’t the only celebrity running in the marathon. Former Bachelor Matt James beat Ashton’s time by around 8 minutes, recording 3:46:45. Chelsea Clinton clocked 4:20:35 and Ellie Kemper ran it in 5:17:39.

Ashton Kutcher was among the 50,000 runners at the New York City marathon, running in support of his non-profit Thorn. pic.twitter.com/eFTV86Z0JH
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 7, 2022

The flu got him. Harry Styles had to cancel 3 of his sold out concert at the Kia Forum outside LA over the weekend. Saturday, Sunday and tonight’s shows are all rescheduled for January. A very disappointed Harry posted, “Towards the end of the show on Wednesday I started feeling ill and I’ve been in bed with the flu ever since. I’ve been doing everything I can to be able to sing tonight, but I’m leaving the doctor now and I’m devastated that it’s just not possible….I’m sorry this news is coming so close to show time, but it was my sincerest hope to be able to play for you tonight. I know several of you have planned trips to LA to see the show, and it means the absolute world to me.” These aren’t actually the first shows he’s canceled because of illness. The Oct. 6 show in Chicago was canceled because someone in the band or on the crew got sick.

Here’s how bad the flu season has gotten … Harry Styles had to cancel his first concert EVER because of an inability to perform — that’s how hard he was hit. https://t.co/LLzyuba6Gu
— TMZ (@TMZ) November 7, 2022

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame may be located in Cleveland, but nobody wants to Cleveland. So the induction ceremony was held at the Microsoft Theater in LA on Saturday. It lasted 5.5 hours, which will mercifully be edited down for an HBO special on Nov. 19. Among this year’s class were Pat Benatar, Lionel Richie, Judas Priest, and the Eurythmics. Dr. Dre inducted Eminem into the Hall of Fame. In his acceptance speech, Eminem mentioned more than 100 of his hip hop idols, many you probably have never heard of but meant a lot to him along the way. Robert Downey Jr. had the honor of inducting Duran Duran, who won the fan vote for entry into the Hall of Fame. A lot of people thought the original five would get back together and perform, but Simon LeBon read a letter from original guitarist Andy Taylor, who revealed he’s battling Stage 4 prostate cancer. You could hear the audience gasp when Simon read it. Andy wrote, “Let there be no doubt I was stoked about the whole thing, even bought a new guitar with the essential whammy! I’m so very proud of these four brothers. I’m amazed at their durability, and I’m overjoyed at accepting this award. I’m sure as hell glad I’m around to see the day.” Pink inducted Dolly Parton, who originally asked to have her nomination withdrawn. But now she’s completely embraced the idea of being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and said she’s going to write a song for it AND put out a rock album.

“I’m a rock star now!” Dolly Parton said. “Back when they said they were going to induct me into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I didn’t really think that I’d done enough to deserve that…but this is a very, very special night for me.”https://t.co/qVQIC9vw4J
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) November 6, 2022

Jessica Simpson posted a video last week, showing off her daughter Birdie’s room that she co-designed with Pottery Barn Kids. But rather than talk about how great the room is, all people were commenting on was Jessica’s appearance and slow, almost slurred speech. They were saying she’d lost too much weight, wondering if she’d had a little too much plastic surgery, and questioning her sobriety. Jessica saw the comments and responded on social media yesterday, posting a video singing along to her 2020 song “Party of One,” passionately belting out the lyric, “I don’t give a (BLANK) about you.” In the lengthy caption, Jessica posted, “ As much as I have learned to block out destructive noise…peoples’ comments and judgements can still hurt deeply with their incessant nagging ‘you will never be good enough’. The most important thing I have learned through the last 5yrs without alcohol being a guard for escapism, is that I CAN and ALWAYS WILL get through it. I am capable of pretty much anything I care enough about to put my mind to.”

Jessica Simpson sparks concern with ‘strange’ behavior in Pottery Barn ad https://t.co/NqOm6AzyIS pic.twitter.com/Hffaiuaz1s
— New York Post (@nypost) November 4, 2022

We watched Aaron Carter spiral out of control, battling substance abuse and mental health issues. And then the sad news came on Saturday. A house sitter found Aaron dead in his bathtub and called 911. Aaron’s neighbor is a local photojournalist and his wife is a nurse. The man told the US Sun that he uses a police scanner for work and heard the call come in about an unresponsive male in the bathtub in their neighborhood. His wife grabbed her defibrillator and rushed to Aaron’s house. He said, “A woman answered the door and was screaming ‘he’s dead, he’s dead’ but wouldn’t let us in because she’d already called the cops.” Aaron was pronounced dead on the scene, but authorities haven’t announced the cause of death yet. He was only 34. He leaves behind his on again/off again fiancée Melanie Martin and their son, Prince Lyric, who will turn one on Nov. 22. At last night’s concert in London, the Backstreet Boys paid tribute to Aaron’s memory. Nick became so emotional on their song “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely” that he couldn’t finish. Hours after hearing the news, Nick posted several photos of him and Aaron in happier times, captioning them, “My heart is broken. Even though my brother and I have had a complicated relationship, my love for him has never ever faded. I have always held on to the hope that he would somehow, someday want to walk a healthy path and eventually find the help that he so desperately needed. Sometimes we want to blame someone or something for a loss, but the truth is that addiction and mental illness is the real villain here. I will miss my brother more than anyone will ever know. I love you Chizz. Now you can finally have the peace you could never find here on earth….God, Please take care of my baby brother.”