Pop Culture

Anna Wintour was in the hot seat last night on The Colbert Report to further promote the Met’s latest Costume Institute exhibit, “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations.” While she was there, she said she and Vogue “thrilled” about President Obama’s same-sex marriage support and turned on the charm and cracked quite a few funnies. Go Anna!

She and Colbert have agreed to a date at a Long John Silver’s for batter-fried shrimp. The closest one to Manhattan is in Melville, NY, about 30 miles from the city. We have the paps ready to snap that pic.

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

President Obama addressed the pending student loans increases with a visit to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and a loan-focused performance of “Slow Jammin’ the News.”

President Obama made a stop at the University of North Carolina yesterday to deliver a speech to a students. The university is also where the show was taped. In his musical appeal to Congress, he asked them to take action to stop rates from doubling July 1. The President has taken up the issue as part of his outreach to younger voters. The UNC stop is one of many he’s making across the country.

You can click here to watch the rest of the interview, but really, all you need is the clip above.

Beyoncé has launched a personal Tumblr, revamped her website, and has started tweeting. She’s posted exactly one tweet, promoting the new site, and already has more than 3.5 million followers. Amazing.

The Tumblr is a collection of family photos along with a lot of snapshots from what look to be some very nice vacation travels.

The site is a little more business, with talk of upcoming appearances at Revel in Atlantic City, her albums, and other parts of her body of work.

There’s also a section of the website called Beyhive that’s dedicated to the fans. It even comes with its own vocabulary.

Read more

It’s been two whole months since we’ve mentioned the Kardashians. According to “insiders” at the New York Post, this is just one more sign that the K-Klan is losing its mojo.

An article in the paper today says the ratings for their reality show have dropped and they can’t sell magazines or their own products. And it was the Kim-and-Kris divorce that was to blame.

Forbes takes the time to pick this apart and says it ain’t so: their magazines cover sell, they’re still being paid big bucks for appearances, their shows are ratings winners, and Kim was not replaced by a dog in the Skechers ads. So there you have it. In between our “Sh*t XXX Say” videos and episodes of Toddlers & Tiaras and watching stupid GOP campaign ads, we still care about the Kardashians.

Sadly, I was having this very conversation with a fellow Mediabistro-er this week, with my colleague explaining that the fake marriage was the reason why she stopped watching the E! show. What prompted the conversation? We were talking about whether or not Khloe is a real Kardashian. Noooooooo!

The tale of the birthing of the Beyoncé/Jay-Z baby is the story that keeps on keeping on.

In today’s latest, we have the touching new song from Jay-Z, “Glory,” where he basically talks about how happy he is to be a dad. It’s the new “Isn’t She Lovely” with crying credits going to B.I.C. a.k.a. Blue Ivy Carter (the baby). #Glory is trending on Twitter.

Over the weekend, Blue Ivy was trending on Twitter. This was even before we were 100 percent sure that was the child’s name. Some reports had the baby’s name switched around.

The only thing keeping the Carter family from total Twitter domination is Tim Tebow’s touchdown pass.

Read more

Alec Baldwin has used his column on The Huffington Post to further explain the little incident that became the big international story — his expulsion from an American Airlines flight the other day.

After apologizing to fellow travelers who may have been “inconvenienced” by the brouhaha, he addresses the airline directly.

“I suppose a part of my frustration lay with the fact that I had flown American for over 20 years and was brand loyal, in the extreme,” Baldwin writes. He then continues to talk about the tendency for passengers these days to use their electronic devices until the last minute and the ways in which air travel has become “inelegant.”

Read more

So yesterday, news broke all over Twitter that Alec Baldwin was booted from an American Airlines flight for playing Words With Friends after the flight attendant told passengers to shut down their devices. Today, visitors to @AlecBaldwin are greeted with a deactivated message.

Our TVNewser colleague Alex Weprin got a response via tweet (of course) from Baldwin’s publicists at Hiltzik Strategies about the disablement: “@HiltzikStrat: @alexweprin – just focused on #30Rock for now.” In a couple more words, reps told People, “It’s just on hold while he focuses on 30 Rock.”

Meanwhile, Baldwin was mobbed by photographers in New York when he landed because of the incident, which you can see in this bizarre Huffington Post slideshow that has 25 pictures of Baldwin getting into a car at the airport.

Here’s a statement from American Airlines on the issue.

Hilary Swank made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to promote her movie New Year’s Eve, talk about the eggs she just bought, and tell the world that she now knows she should do her research before going to a suspected human rights violator’s birthday party.

You’ll recall, Swank got into trouble for making an appearance at an event for Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov (Jean Claude Van Damme and Seal a.k.a. Mr. Heidi Klum were also there). The Human Rights Foundation says they tried to warn her. Swank has apologized, donated the money, and has fired a few people over the issue. Her PR firm, 42West dumped her because of it.

Last night, Swank continued to explain, with help from Leno who tossed her a few softballs and made up some excuse about celebrities being dopes and just getting on planes when they’re told to.

Read more

George Clooney is loved the world over. He’s won Oscars. People pay to see his movies. (We hear The Descendants is pretty good.) And look at this long list of girlfriends.

But the New York Post Magazine has published a story today that says Clooney is no good to these ladies. No good at all.

“Hollywood’s ultimate bachelor, willfully committed to never committing, has left a long line of unknown women in his celebrated wake,” the story says. “For women who hope to gain fame from a high-profile relationship, dating George Clooney is a catch-22.”

Read more

Madison Avenue department store Barney’s has turned over its fifth floor to Lady Gaga, creating a Gaga-inspired wonderland of hair bows, strange stocking stuffers, special edition books, and other items all related to the wacky world of the Lady.

Read more