YouTube will spend $100 million… Chrissy Teigen’s apology… Colton Underwood was ‘blackmailed’… TV wrap-up… and Tiffany Haddish poised to take over Ellen’s daytime crown

Listen to “Showbiz – May 13, 2021” on Spreaker.

Every social media company is trying to create their own version of TikTok and YouTube is willing to pay big bucks to attract high profile creators. YouTube started rolling out YouTube Shorts back in March. It is not its own app, YouTube Short will live on the regular YouTube app. Like TikTok, videos on YouTube Shorts can only be 60 seconds long and they have a lot of similar tools TikTok has. YouTube announced a $100M fund to pay creators to make content on YouTube Shorts.

YouTube will spend $100 million to lure away influencers from TikTok https://t.co/d6zbpIQNCw pic.twitter.com/7jEDQ001c4— Forbes (@Forbes) May 12, 2021

Courtney Stodden has been calling out Chrissy Teigen for cyber-bullying on Twitter years ago, but taking it a step further by going into her DMs to twist the knife a little deeper. She said, “(Chrissy) wouldn’t just publicly tweet about wanting me to take ‘a dirt nap’ but would privately DM me and tell me to kill myself. Things like, ‘I can’t wait for you to die.’” Chrissy has finally apologized publicly, after saying she attempted to personally apologize to Courtney but couldn’t reach her. Chrissy said, “I’m mortified and sad at who I used to be. I was an insecure, attention-seeking troll. I am ashamed and completely embarrassed at my behavior but that … is nothing compared to how I made Courtney feel. I’m so sorry, Courtney. I hope you can heal now knowing how deeply sorry I am.” Courtney said she never heard from Chrissy or anyone on her team about wanting to apologize, but says she will go ahead and accept it. But Courtney posted a screenshot showing Chrissy still had her blocked on Twitter, adding, “All of me wants to believe this is a sincere apology but it feels like a public attempt to save her partnerships with Target and other brands who are realizing her ‘wokeness’ is a broken record.”

Chrissy Teigen is addressing past comments she made to Courtney Stodden. Her full apology: https://t.co/Uyvboz4Jzw pic.twitter.com/QgBahhOzxt— E! News (@enews) May 13, 2021

Colton Underwood came out of the closet in a big way, giving the scoop to Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America.” But Colton said he was backed into a corner because someone was blackmailing him. Colton told Variety that some anonymous person claimed to have secretly taken nude photographs of him at a gay spa in LA and threatened to “out” him. He told Variety that he got the threatening email after visiting the club, but he said he was only there “to look.” And while Colton admitting to hooking up with men before becoming the Bachelor, he insists it never went further than making out and that he was, in fact, a virgin.

Colton Underwood came out to his publicist after being blackmailed via an anonymous email from someone claiming to have naked photos of him at a spa catering to gay clientele. He was at the spa “just to look,” he says. https://t.co/gsrAcVPU1P— Variety (@Variety) May 12, 2021

NBC has announced that “This Is Us” will end after its sixth season next year, which will begin filming this summer. The team behind the show said the plan was always to end after six seasons. Meantime, their Peacock stream service has added three new shows to the lineup — a 13-part docuseries following Paris Hilton as she prepares to walk down the aisle, a pop star competition hosted by JoJo Siwa and her mom, and an adaptation of an Australian comedy talk show that will be hosted by Ed Helms and Randall Park.

🎶We’ve got Annie! 🎶@NBC has set Annie as its next live TV musical, planning for a 2021 holiday broadcast! https://t.co/hDhspM3Ml5— Playbill (@playbill) May 12, 2021

‘This Is Us’ Ending With Season 6, Fulfilling Creator Dan Fogelman’s Plan https://t.co/3OWTIxrmKE— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) May 12, 2021

Ellen DeGeneres announced that she’s ending her talk show when her contract is up next year, which will be the show’s 19th season. Although some people were encouraging her to stick it out for 20, she said 19 is a good number, too. Ellen explained, “Look, it’s going to be really hard on the last day, but I also know it’s time. I’m a creative person, and when you’re a creative person you constantly need to be challenged, which is why I decided to host the Oscars or why I decided to go back to stand up when I didn’t think I would. I just needed something to challenge me. And as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore.” So who will fill that great big daytime void? Page Six says Tiffany Haddish is a frontrunner, although Kelly Clarkson may take Ellen’s actual time slot.