Fire at Denzel Washington’s home… Cardi B apologizes after being accused of appropriating Hindu culture… Casting news… and CMA Awards 2020 winners

Listen to “Showbiz – Nov 12, 2020” on Spreaker.

LA fire crews responded to reports of smoke coming from the home of one of our national treasures last night. We’re not sure if Denzel Washington was home at the time, but the local CBS affiliate said everyone who was inside the house got out safely. News cameras showed smoke coming from the second floor, but no flames were visible. According to fire officials, they’re focusing their investigation on one of several furnaces in the home that were recently serviced.

All occupants have safely exited the premises as fire crews respond to a possible fire at Denzel Washington’s home. https://t.co/tgiXOrhCg8— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) November 12, 2020

Cardi B is super excited about her new platform sneaker collaboration with Reebok, which is available to the public on Friday. But she’s getting some backlash over a photoshoot promoting the collaboration in “Footwear News.” Cardi is dressed in the style of the Hindu goddess of war, strength and protection, Durga, who has 10 arms. Many accused Cardi of mocking their culture and said using the goddess to promote sneakers is disrespectful. Yesterday, Cardi claimed ignorance as she apologized on her Instagram Story. She said, “The creatives told me I was going to represent a goddess…that she represents strength, femininity and liberation, and that’s something I love and I’m all about. And though it was dope, if people think I’m offending their culture or their religion I want to say I’m sorry. That was not my intent. I do not like disrespecting nobody’s religion. I wouldn’t like people to offend my religion. I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful. Maybe I should have done my research. I’m sorry, I can’t change the past, but I will do more research for the future.”

Cardi B Apologizes After Being Accused of Appropriating Hindu Culture on Footwear News Cover https://t.co/QjLePccCyW— People (@people) November 11, 2020

In casting news, Selena Gomez will play gay Peruvian mountain climber Silvia Vásquez-Lavado in an upcoming biopic called “In the Shadow of the Mountain.” Silvia became the first Peruvian woman to summit Mt. Everest and the first openly gay woman to complete the Seven Summits, climbing the highest mountain on each continent. Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley will star in their fifth movie together called “The Fence.” They will play two liberal newlyweds who are at odds with their ultra-conservative neighbor over a nine-foot-tall fence he builds to keep his home safe from potential terrorists. And several years ago, Johnny Depp’s fans started a petition to have Amber Heard fired from “Aquaman 2.” After Johnny lost his case and was fired from “Fantastic Beasts,” that petition has resurfaced. Nearly 1M people have now signed it, demanding that Amber be removed from the sequel. They say AMBER was the abuser and point out that she was arrested back in 2009 for her then partner, which proves she has a pattern of abuse. There’s also a petition for Johnny to come back to “Fantastic Beasts.” It has over 175k signatures.

Selena Gomez is ready to scale a big-screen biopic about Peruvian mountaineer and social entrepreneur Silvia Vásquez-Lavado. https://t.co/0NrpTKuR1l— billboard (@billboard) November 11, 2020

Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley will have trouble with a neighbour in political satire The Fence: https://t.co/K8nmAZDla6 pic.twitter.com/zzSit8AKyz— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) November 11, 2020

It follows Johnny Depp’s removal from Fantastic Beasts.— LADbible (@ladbible) November 12, 2020

The man who produced “Selena” starring Jennifer Lopez is now suing Selena’s father, sister and Netflix for $1M over “Selena: The Series,” which begins streaming Dec. 4. Moctesuma Esparza claims that way back in 1995, Abraham Quintanilla signed a contract giving him the rights to Selena’s life stories. Then in 1998, Esparza claims he met with Abraham and Suzette Quintanilla to discuss creating a series based on Selena’s early life, but it never went anywhere. By creating this show with Netflix, Esparza says this breached their contract. He also accuses Netflix of ignoring his rights to Selena’s life stories.

Selena Quintanilla’s Family and Netflix Hit With $1 Million Lawsuit Over New Series https://t.co/6CTKjr1Y8r— E! News (@enews) November 12, 2020

A lot of drama at the CMA’s last night. Rather than follow the lead of other award shows this year, they didn’t go virtual. The 54th annual CMAs were held inside Nashville’s Music City Center. And with Nashville having a spike in Coronavirus cases, several artists scheduled to appear or perform had to cancel before the ceremony. But a half-hour into the show, Rascal Flatts announced they couldn’t perform because one of their band member’s had tested positive. As far as the awards, Miranda Lambert is now tied with Garth Brooks and Brad Paisley with 14 CMA Awards. Only four artists have won more. Maren Morris was a first time winner in 3 categories — female vocalist of the year, and single and song of the year for “The Bones.” Luke Combs won male vocalist of the year, while Eric Church was the surprise winner for entertainer of the year. This is his first CMA win in ANY category in four years, but brings his grand total wins to four. And congratulations to friends of the show Old Dominion on winning vocal group of the year for the third year in a row!