Shakira faces EIGHT YEARS in jail… Johnny Depp’s artwork has sold out… Instagram is rolling back several changes… Ben Affleck reunited with Jason Mamoa… and Beyoncé releases seventh album

Listen to “Showbiz – July 29, 2022” on Spreaker.

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Shakira is accused of failing to pay Spain $14.5M euros — roughly $14.7M — in taxes on the income she earned between 2012 and 2014. Rather than accept a deal being offered to her by Spanish prosecutors, Shakira has opted to fight it out in court. Her PR firm released a statement saying Shakira “trusts her innocence and chooses to leave the issue in the hands of the law.” If she’s found guilty, Shakira faces a possible fine and prison time. No date for the trial has been set. What it all boils down to is where Shakira lived between 2012 and 2014. Even though her official residence was in the Bahamas, prosecutors claim she lived mostly in Spain during that time.

Shakira faces EIGHT YEARS in jail https://t.co/pMHxRiWDae pic.twitter.com/C1lS3vWZx5
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) July 29, 2022

Johnny Depp announced on Instagram yesterday that he would be selling a limited-edition collection of 780 pieces of his artwork, and within hours, every bit of it was gone. Johnny’s collection called “Friends & Heroes” is based on people he knew well, who inspired him as a person — Bob Dylan, Elizabeth Taylor, Al Pacino and Keith Richards. Individual pieces sold for roughly $4800, while the complete portfolio of four sold for just over $18K. All told, Johnny sold his collection for £3M — a little over $3.6M.

Johnny Depp makes £3m ($3.6m) in hours through sales of his art https://t.co/QcS4lgqL4c
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 28, 2022

Never underestimate the power of the Kardashians. Instagram was being all cocky, saying they were making the move toward more videos and they were going to keep on recommending new people for us to follow whether we like it or not. But then Kim and Kylie reposted a meme that basically said, “Make Instagram Instagram again,” and Instagram finally listened. They’ve announced they’re going to roll back on some of the changes, including a test version that kept giving us a full-screen display of posts. Instagram said it will also tone down changes to its algorithm that resulted in all these videos from accounts we don’t follow. The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, told the tech newsletter Platformer, “I’m glad we took a risk – if we’re not failing every once in a while, we’re not thinking big enough or bold enough. But we definitely need to take a big step back and regroup.”

Instagram is rolling back several changes to the app, after backlash from users including members of the Kardashians. pic.twitter.com/JtPh8d2kXL
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) July 29, 2022

After fans on a Warner Bros. bus tour saw something they shouldn’t have, Jason Momoa let the cat out of the bag. Ben Affleck will be playing Batman again in “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.” Jason posted a couple pictures of the two of them together and captioned them, “REUNITED bruce and arthur. love u and miss u Ben WB studio tours just explored the backlot alright. busted on set all great things coming AQUAMAN 2 all my aloha j” You may remember that Ben announced he was retiring as Batman after 2020’s “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” and Robert Pattinson was chosen to take over the role. But then a couple years ago, it was revealed that Ben would be playing the Caped Crusader once again in “The Flash” starring Ezra Miller, which is due in theaters in June of 2023. The movie will also feature Michael Keaton as Batman, but I don’t know how that’s going to work. So everybody assumed THAT would be the last time Ben would be playing Batman, but now Jason has let us know that’s not the case. We’ll see him again in the Aquaman sequel, which comes out in March of next year.

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Beyonce’s “Renaissance” album officially dropped at midnight. In the liner notes, we learned that this album is part of a trilogy that was recorded over three years during the pandemic. In his review, Page Six’s Nicholas Hartman said, “Beyoncé has always been a ‘naughty girl,’ but she’s absolutely filthy on her new album…..It makes ‘Bootylicious’ sound like the ‘Barney’ theme song and ‘Partition’ like ‘I Will Always Love You.’ Across a whopping 16 tracks, Beyoncé’s caramel voice is amplified by pulsating cadences that effortlessly fuse house music with Afrobeats to make up the best dance album of 2022. (Sorry, Drake.)” He gave it 3 out of 4 stars, so he better prepare himself for the full onslaught of the Beyhive’s wrath. Kelis better be getting ready for lots of bees in her feed because she’s accusing Beyonce of stealing from her. On the song “Energy,” you may pick up on some notes that sound a lot like Kelis’ song “Milkshake.” And on the album, Beyonce give Kelis credit. But this was all a surprise to Kelis. She didn’t know about it until the album dropped. After a fan account made a post about “Energy,” Kelis replied, “Nothing is ever as it seems, some of the people in this business have no soul or integrity and they have everyone fooled.” She added that Beyonce’s new song is “not a collab, it’s a theft.” Kelis is also upset with the Neptunes, who produced Beyonce’s new song and Kelis’ “Milkshake.” In the past, Kelis has accused The Neptunes of tricking her into signing contracts where she didn’t make any money from her first two albums. So, basically, Pharrell owns Kelis’ master recordings and Beyonce didn’t need Kelis’ permission for anything.