‘Heated Rivalry’ Mania Strikes CNN’s New Year’s Eve Broadcast

The hit Canadian television series Heated Rivalry has not only taken over the internet, it also managed to consume CNN’s New Year’s Eve broadcast. Hosts Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper both mentioned the show multiple times throughout the broadcast, including during a discussion about which of them would be Ilya Rozanov, the Russian hockey sensation played by Connor Storrie, and who would be Shane Hollander, his Canadian counterpart. During an interview with singer Brandi Carlile, they asked if lesbians cared about the show. (Her answer: “It’s all I can think about.”) The undisputed highlight, however, came during their interview with Stephen Colbert. Cohen joked about Colbert’s wife, Evie, being the top in their relationship, to which Colbert fired back, “But I’m a bossy bottom.” Cooper, completely unprepared for this response, quickly lost his composure, turning to Cohen and asking, “Has Heated Rivalry made everybody insane? Is this a Heated Rivalry effect?” before adding, “If Stephen Colbert starts talking in Russian to me, I’m going to fall,“ a reference to Storrie’s Rozanov. Heated Rivalry, which aired its finale on Dec. 26, has already been renewed for a second season, which is expected to arrive in 2027.

Over three dozen young men in South Africa have died after taking part in circumcision initiation ceremonies. South African authorities reported that the men died in November and December after having their foreskins removed as part of an initiation ritual into manhood. In Xhosa, Ndebele, Sotho, and Venda ethnic groups, young men aged 16 and up are placed into initiation schools that teach them the responsibilities of adulthood. Circumcision is performed on men as part of the curriculum. 41 men died after having the procedure done with a dirty scalpel, leading to them contracting gangrene or sepsis, according to TMZ. South Africa’s Traditional Affairs Minister, Velenkosini Hlabisa, blamed the deaths on negligence from both the schools and parents. “There is negligence in terms of meeting health standards in some of the initiation schools. If you take your child to an initiation school, you never make a follow-up, you do not monitor, you do not go there to see whether the child does drink water, you are placing your child at risk,” he said.

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Actress Amy Schumer has sold her New York City home amid her ongoing divorce from husband Chris Fischer. The Brooklyn Heights brownstone was also one of the settings for Nicolas Cage and Cher’s 1987 movie, Moonstruck. Despite its famous origins and well-known current owners, the house was sold at a loss. According to Realtor.com, Schumer managed to sell the refurbished property for $11 million, $1.25 million less than what the actress and her soon-to-be ex-husband paid in 2022, and $3 million below the asking price. The house, built in 1829, boasts five bedrooms, a wine cellar, a gym, and a private backyard. The couple sold their home a day before Schumer announced, in an unhinged Instagram post, that she and Fischer are parting ways. Its closing price only became official at the end of December. Schumer, 44, said that she and Fischer, 45, “made the difficult decision” to end their marriage after seven years. Fischer, a chef, will continue to co-parent their son, according to a report in Page Six. “We love each other very much and will continue to focus on raising our son,” Schumer told fans. She also told the Wall Street Journal that they decided to sell the house to be closer to their 6-year-old son’s school in Manhattan.

Veteran actor and darling of the MAGA movement Mel Gibson and his longtime partner, screenwriter Rosalind Ross, have split after nine years together. “Although it’s sad to end this chapter in our lives, we are blessed with a beautiful son and will continue to be the best parents possible,” the couple told PEOPLE in a joint statement. Sources told People that the pair, who share an eight-year-old son Lars, quietly parted ways roughly a year ago. Gibson, 69, whose career has spanned decades with roles in major franchises and acclaimed directorial work, will now continue raising Lars alongside Ross. The pair first connected in 2014, welcoming their child just prior to Gibson’s Academy Award nomination for Hacksaw Ridge. Gibson is a noted supporter of President Donald Trump, who appointed him earlier this year as a “special ambassador” to Hollywood, a role invented under the guise of strengthening U.S. film industry.

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A new commemorative plaque has been added to Matthew Perry’s grave in Los Angeles. A photo, shared by Instagram user Arthur Dark (@hollywoodgraveyard), shows Perry’s private crypt at the Forest Lawn cemetery in Hollywood Hills—which had previously been unmarked—with a bronze plaque bearing the note “Much Loved Friend.” “The crypt of Matthew Perry has been marked at Forest Lawn Hollywood — forever remembered in the hearts of friends and fans all over the world," Dark’s caption read. Perry died in October 2023 at the age of 54 from an accidental ketamine overdose. The Friends actor, who played the character Chandler Bing, was prescribed the powerful dissociative to treat depression, but turned to an alternative supplier when his doctor wouldn’t prescribe the dosage he wanted. Doctors Mark Chavez and Salvador Plasencia, who were involved in supplying Perry with ketamine before his death, were sentenced earlier this month. Chavez was sentenced to eight months of house arrest and three years of supervised release, while Plasencia was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Three other defendants are awaiting sentencing, including the “Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sangha, Erik Fleming, and Perry’s personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who all pleaded guilty to federal drug charges.

It is now thought that there are around 5.2 million documents in the Epstein files, five times the initial estimate. The government has already missed the deadline to release them, after a new law required their turnover on December 19. Now, around 400 extra lawyers are being sucked in to help wade through the mammoth task, as the government seeks to make ground on the deficit. Only around 100,000 files were released on the day of the deadline. At that point, authorities said there were about 1 million more documents that needed review, but according to The New York Times, the new figure of 5.2 million is now considered more accurate. Two hundred lawyers from the national security division had already been pulled in for the project, but now they are being told more help is needed. The Justice Department has faced criticism from across party lines, with claims it may have broken the law by missing the deadline. The department says it won’t be done until January 20, stating in its own defense, “We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible.”

A body has been found in the hunt for missing Texas teen Camila Mendoza Olmos. Police have been searching for the 19-year-old after she went missing on Christmas Eve, last spotted on dashcam footage walking along the side of a road in her hometown of San Antonio. Police said the body has not been identified, but was found in a field a quarter of a mile from Mendoza Olmos’ home. Cops also said a gun belonging to one of her relatives, which had previously been reported missing, was found at the scene, with the body exhibiting “some indicators” consistent with self-harm, NewsNation reports. On Tuesday, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said the body had been found earlier that day, in tall grass close to a landscaping business in Caspian Spring, Mendoza Olmos’ San Antonio suburb. “At this point, it’s too early to tell if the body is that of Camilla,” he said. “At this point, we don’t suspect foul play.” He added, “there are some indicators [of self-harm] that the body that we found may be as a result of that.” No cause of death has been established for the recovered remains at the time of writing.

Isiah Whitlock Jr., the beloved character actor known for roles in television series like The Wire, Veep, and The Good Cop, and who appeared in six Spike Lee films, died Tuesday after a short illness. He was 71. Whitlock, a member of San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater, took on television roles in the 1980s before adding film credits to his name, the second of which was Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning Goodfellas, in which he played the doctor of mobster Henry Hill’s brother. Over the next three-plus decades, the South Bend, Indiana, native built a lengthy list of roles ranging from Law & Order to Chappelle’s Show on television and Cocaine Bear to Lee’s BlacKkKlansman on the big screen. Whitlock is perhaps most well-known for his portrayal of corrupt Maryland state senator Clay Davis on all five seasons of HBO’s critically acclaimed The Wire. In that role, Whitlock further popularized his unique delivery of the word “sh-t,” which he first deployed in Lee’s 25th Hour in 2002. In 2018, the actor described how fans approach him “at least once a day,” either asking him to say it or saying it themselves. Whitlock said he picked up the phrase from his uncle, Leon.

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Cecilia Giménez, whose botched attempt to restore a mural of Jesus became an internet phenomenon, has died at the age of 94. In 2012, Giménez, a then 81-year-old amateur artist, took it upon herself to touch up “Ecce Homo,” a 19th-century painting of Jesus by Elías García Martínez that hung in Santuario de Misericordia church in the small town of Borja, Spain. She later claimed the work was unfinished, and she intended to clean up the painting after taking a two-week break. She never got the chance, as the restoration sparked memes worldwide. Though initially seen as a fiasco, Giménez’s “Ecce Homo” restoration ultimately became a widely celebrated tourist attraction. The church began charging a €3.50 entry fee to onlookers flocking to see the botched Jesus in person, and ultimately donated over €50,000 to local charities. Giménez sought a share of the financial windfall to donate to muscular atrophy charities because her son suffers from the condition. In 2022, Borja celebrated the restoration’s 10th anniversary with a gala. At the time, Giménez’s niece, Marisa Ibáñez, told the New York Post that Giménez, whose mind “began to fail her,” no longer remembered the controversy surrounding her painting but felt the love it generated.

Grammy-nominated gospel singer Richard Smallwood has died at 77 after complications from kidney failure, TMZ reported. The “Total Praise” singer died Tuesday at a nursing facility in Sandy Spring, Maryland. Born in Atlanta, Smallwood showed musical promise early, founding a gospel group at just 11 years old after relocating to Washington, D.C. His talent was further shaped at Browne Junior High School, where he studied music under singer Roberta Flack, according to the outlet. From there, Smallwood went on to Howard University, earning a master’s degree in musicology and piano. That foundation launched a decades-long career that made Smallwood one of gospel music’s most respected artists. He earned eight Grammy nominations over the course of his career, with his most recent coming in 2012 for the song “Trust Me.” Smallwood’s influence extended well beyond gospel circles. His song “I Love You, Lord” was famously performed by Whitney Houston in the 1996 film The Preacher’s Wife, introducing his music to an even wider audience. He is survived by two brothers and three foster sisters.