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Donald Trump is fine with letting trans people use whichever bathroom they want

I keep losing track of Donald Trump’s various wars on media outlets, but I guess he’s okay with NBC this week, because he appeared on Thursday morning’s Today Show for an exclusive interview/town hall which is getting wide coverage, mostly because Trump answered some questions about LGBTQ issues and more specifically, the North Carolina “bathroom law.” North Carolina passed their own draconian “religious freedom” law last month, which basically entitles every anti-gay bigot the “right” to discriminate against LGBTQ people, and even more specifically, it says that trans individuals can only use the public bathrooms which correspond to the gender on their birth certificate. The whole thing is a clusterwhoops, and North Carolina is losing millions of dollars as major businesses and artists boycott the state. The GOP platform is basically that these kinds of “religious freedom” laws are great and every state should have them. But Trump disagreed, saying: “Well look North Carolina did something that was very strong and they’re paying a big price and there’s a lot of problems. And one of the best answers I heard was from a commentator yesterday saying, ‘Leave it the way it is right now, there have been very few problems, leave it the way it is.’ There have been very few complaints the way it is. People go, they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate, there has been so little trouble.” Today show co-host Matt Lauer then asked Trump, “Do you have any transgender people working in your organization?” “I don’t know, I really don’t know,” Trump told Lauer. “I probably do, I really don’t know.” “So if Caitlyn Jenner were to walk into Trump Tower and want to use the bathroom, you would be fine with her using any bathroom she chooses?” Lauer asked. “That is correct,” Trump responded. [From E! News] Ted Cruz is already bashing Trump for his comments, but I have to think that Trump is already maneuvering into a general-election position, which… I don’t know, is actually pretty smart? I’m not saying I’m suddenly a Trump supporter, I’m just saying A) he’s smart to begin maneuvering his public positions to a more centrist platform and B) Trump’s words about the “bathroom issue” are actually not problematic at all. Of course, the Trump giveth and the Trump taketh away. No sooner did he say something relatively enlightened about LGBTQ people than he declared that taking Andrew Jackson off of the $20 bill was “pure political correctness.” Jackson is being replaced with Harriet Tubman, which is great and it’s what activists wanted. The original plan was to replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill, but Lin-Manuel Miranda saved Hamilton for everybody. So now we’re getting $20 Tubman and Trump is acting as an apologist for Andrew Jackson… who engineered a genocide. Or as Trump said, “he was someone very important to this country.” Trump’s solution? Put Tubman on the $2 bill. Oh, Trump. Here’s the $20 bill part. And here’s the LGBTQ part. Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News.

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Queen Elizabeth releases three Annie Leibovitz portraits for her 90th b-day

Today is Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday, so course Buckingham Palace released more never-before-seen new portraits of Her Majesty. Annie Leibovitz was invited to Windsor Castle to take a series of portraits last month. One involves the Queen with the youngest members of the royal family: her two grandchildren (Louise and James) from Prince Edward and Sophie, plus her great-grandchildren, including Princess Charlotte (on her lap) and Prince George, who looks mischievous as hell. The other children are: Peter Phillips daughters, 5-year-old Savannah and 4-year-old Isla, plus Zara Phillips’ daughter Mia Tindall (the one holding the Queen’s purse!). Zara and Peter’s daughters look SO much alike. My favorite photo? This absolutely amazing and beautiful portrait of the Queen with her only daughter, the Princess Royal (Princess Anne). The way Anne has her arm around the back of the couch and the casual intimacy of this mother-daughter photo is so striking and lovely. Anne is the best! And of course, Annie Leibovitz couldn’t come to Windsor Castle and not take a shot of the Queen and her dogs! The Queen hasn’t gotten any more puppies in years, so these dogs are the last dogs she’ll ever have: Willow, Vulcan, Candy and Holly. I love it that the Queen has a dog named Candy. And Vulcan. I’m also including some photos of the Queen at an event yesterday in Windsor. E! News is running a story about the Queen’s impeccable style throughout the years – go here to read. Personally, I love it when she wears hot pink and diamonds. The Queen has an inner showgirl! Photos courtesy of WENN, Annie Leibovitz/Buckingham Palace.

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Katherine Heigl: ‘I absolutely owe anyone an apology I unwittingly offended’

Kitty litter spokeswoman Katherine Heigl would like to explain why she shouldn’t have said all of the terrible things she’s said. Heigl appeared on Howard Stern’s show on Wednesday – perhaps to shill kitty litter? – and she and Stern ended up getting into EVERYTHING. It would involve about a million links, so perhaps it’s best to glance through our Heigl archives from the past, say, seven years. Or more. She’s been a pill for the better part of a decade and there are dozens of instances of her unpleasant attitude, diva behavior and general sourness. And what’s funny is that Howard Stern basically asked her about all of it. On criticizing Knocked Up after it made her a star: “That was dumb. I liked the movie a lot. I just didn’t like me. She was kind of like, she was so judgmental and kind of uptight and controlling and all these things and I really went with it while we were doing it, and a lot of it, Judd allows everyone to be very free and improvise and whatever and afterwards, I was like, ‘Why is that where I went with this? What an a–hole she is!’ It was, again, one of those situations, it was a huge opportunity for me. I was being interviewed for Vanity Fair. Like, I was on the cover of Vanity Fair, it was a huge big deal for me. And the journalist…just said, ‘You know a lot of women felt it was a little sexist’ so then I felt obligated to answer that and so I tried in my very sort of ungracious way to answer why I felt that it maybe was a little.” She admits she didn’t even call Judd Apatow to apologize: “I probably should’ve [called them]. But what I did was very, I did it publicly instead and kind of tried to say, look, this was not what I meant and this was an incredible experience for me and they were incredibly good to me on this movie, so I did not mean to s–t on them at all. I’ve thought about like, writing a note. I feel embarrassed. I don’t want it to feel insincere on any level.” Why she announced that she was withdrawing her name from Emmy consideration in 2008: “I didn’t feel good about my performance. There was a part of me that thought, because I had won the year before, that I needed juicy, dramatic, emotional material and I just didn’t have that that season… I went in [to speak to Shonda Rhimes] ’cause I was really embarrassed. So I went in to Shonda and said, ‘I’m so sorry. That wasn’t cool. I should not have said that’…I shouldn’t have said anything publicly but at the time, I didn’t think anybody would notice. I didn’t know that journalists would see who submitted and who didn’t. I just quietly didn’t submit and then it became a story and then I felt I was obligated to make my statement and ‘shut up, Katie.’” She owes apologies to a lot of people: “I absolutely owe anyone an apology I unwittingly offended or disrespected. I get it. It was an immature dumbass moment.” She started going to therapy: “I started going because of the scrutiny – and I was not handling it well. I was feeling completely like the biggest piece of s— on the bottom of your shoe. I was really struggling with it and how to not take it all really personally.” She found herself acting timidly on sets: “I was like, ‘This is nonsense. Stop it. Get some help and own your voice.’ “ [From E! News and People] Just my opinion: she’s still full of sh-t. You can hear the bullsh-t and lies and inadvertent truths dripping off these quotes. “…That I needed juicy, dramatic, emotional material and I just didn’t have that that season…” Meaning she still feels like she was fundamentally justified for throwing the writers under the bus. Meaning she still feels like her material was sub-par and it was her duty to say so publicly. And then: “I’ve thought about like, writing a note. I feel embarrassed. I don’t want it to feel insincere on any level.” Why would it be “insincere,” Heigl? Because you would just be apologizing with an eye-roll? Because she’s still pissed off that people are still disgusted by how many times she “unwittingly” offended and disrespected them. Photos courtesy of WENN.

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THR: Japanese fans aren’t upset with Scarlett Johansson’s ‘Ghost’ casting

Earlier this week, we discussed the whitewashing drama that surrounds the Hollywood adaptation of the popular manga property Ghost in the Shell – go here to review Monday’s post. Interestingly enough, it seems that Americans and Europeans are the ones most upset about Scarlett Johansson’s casting as a character who was originally a Japanese woman. While Americans – specifically Asian-Americans – think this is just another terrible case of Hollywood whitewashing, it seems like ScarJo’s casting has been met with a shrug in Japan. The Hollywood Reporter did an interesting story about the reaction of Japanese fans to both Scarlett’s casting and the American whitewashing criticism. The casting of Scarlett Johansson as Major Motoko Kusanagi in the Paramount/DreamWorks adaptation of Japanese anime hit Ghost in the Shell has drawn accusations of “whitewashing” and sparked fierce debate on social media across the Western world. But in the home of the manga and anime cult classic, the reaction to the media firestorm was mostly surprise as many Japanese had already assumed that the lead role in a Hollywood version of the story would go to a white actress. The original manga, written by Masamune Shirow, was published in 1989 by Kodansha, which licensed it for Mamoru Oshii’s seminal 1995 anime feature, a number of Japanese spin-off films and anime series, and most recently for the Hollywood live-action version. “Looking at her career so far, I think Scarlett Johansson is well cast,” Sam Yoshiba, director of the international business division at Kodansha’s Tokyo headquarters, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “She has the cyberpunk feel. And we never imagined it would be a Japanese actress in the first place…. This is a chance for a Japanese property to be seen around the world.” Yoshiba recently returned from a visit to the New Zealand set of the movie, where he says he was impressed by the respect being shown for the source material. Many ordinary Japanese manga fans are also nonplussed at the outrage over the casting. “If you want a Japanese cast, then a Japanese company should make the film in Japan,” said long-time manga fan Tetsuya Kataoka. Interestingly, the casting of an Asian-looking actress may have avoided the “whitewashing” accusations and likely placated some fans in Europe and America, but provoked a worse reaction in Japan. “It’s a shame they didn’t choose a Japanese person to tell such an interesting story. But at least they didn’t cast a Chinese actress, like they did in Memoirs of a Geisha,” said Ai Ries Collazo, another manga fan. “[Zhang Ziyi] actually did an amazing job, but it was like: really? Again, can’t they find a Japanese actress? Though casting an Asian actress would probably have gone down better in America.” Japanese manga and anime fans pointed out that similar “race-bending” casting takes place in reverse for domestic productions. Two live-action movies based on the Attack on Titan manga, also originally published by Kodansha, were released last year. The characters in the manga by Hajime Isayama were Western, but the cast for the movies was all Japanese. [From The Hollywood Reporter] I guess it probably bodes well that Japanese manga fans don’t care that a white woman was cast, and I also see their point about “well, at least they didn’t cast some vaguely Asian actress in lieu of getting a Japanese actress.” I agree that it would have been worse if they hired a Chinese-American or Korean-American actress, like all Asian ethnicities are interchangeable. But still…despite what these manga fans and Japanese fans say, I still think this is pretty egregious whitewashing. Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, Dreamworks.

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Coachella: Taylor Swift went ultra-blonde, Miranda Kerr brought her billionaire

BLEACHELLA. pic.twitter.com/TwozyjEsgl — Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) April 15, 2016 Coachella snuck up on me. Some years, I’m prepared for the wall-to-wall photos of millionaires pretending to be hippies. Some years, Coachella starts and I’m caught unawares. But every year, I’m mystified as to why the same people go every damn year. Weirdly, Taylor Swift is not one of those people. She dropped by Coachella on Day 1. Of course she had to post a photo of her newly ultra-bleached hair. So far, that’s the biggest news that’s come out of Coachella. So, enjoy these photos from the first weekend. This year’s Coachella might be perfectly encapsulated by these photos of Miranda Kerr and Evan Spiegel. Miranda is one of the most famous models in the world, and Spiegel is the billionaire founder of Snapchat. But they too can “hang” with the cool kids at Coachella. Spiegel’s even hiding his face, for reasons, dude. Paris Hilton, man. She’s there every year. Kendall Jenner looks like hippie Barbie. Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber. You might think, “Hey, why in the world are Rande & Cindy there? Are they conducting a global search for a new pair of couple-friends after George abandoned them?” While that was my first thought, I think Cindy and Rande were just trying to be the “cool parents” who took their kids to Coachella. There are photos of Kaia Gerber floating around, and I feel confident that Cindy was at least acting as the adult supervision. Brooklyn Beckham is still getting a big “nope” from me. Maybe in a few years, he won’t annoy me so much. On a scale of 1-10, how annoying do you find Alessandra Ambrosio? She’s an 8.5 to me. Jared Leto, man. At least his hair looks okay here. Zoe Kravitz and her boyfriend Twin Shadow – I’m actually surprised that they’re still together. I think they’ve been going out for a while now. Photos courtesy of Twitter, WENN, Fame/Flynet.

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Who had the best dress & jewels at the Tiffany Blue Book Ball in NYC?

Here are some photos from Friday night’s Tiffany Blue Book Ball in NYC. Four major actresses/celebrities came out for the event, and considering they were all DRIPPING in fabulous jewels, I totally believe that Tiffany’s paid them all to be there, looking fabulous and wearing certain high-end pieces. Those ladies? Jessica Biel, Diane Kruger, Reese Witherspoon and Naomi Watts. I’m trying to include some close-ups of the jewels too. First up, here’s Jessica Biel in The Row. I’m starting with the worst, just FYI. While Mary-Kate and Ashley’s The Row is a well-respected line, I always struggle to understand why anyone thinks this looks good? This dress looks so cheap and basic. Biel doesn’t help the underwhelming dress either, she was aiming for less-is-more and she just looked like she was in desperate need of lipstick and a hairstylist. Diane Kruger knows how to stand out. This Kaufmanfranco look would have looked ridiculous on another woman, but Diane is killing it. Also, Diane got the BEST necklace. Diamonds, emeralds, aquamarines, sapphires, possibly some tourmalines? It’s really gorgeous. The silhouette on Reese Witherspoon’s J. Mendel dress is incredibly flattering, but I still don’t really care for the look as a whole. I think the flower applique/beading sort of morphs into something moldy-looking. And I wish Reese had done something else with her hair. Still, the necklace she got to wear? Perfection. CB loves Naomi Watts while I’m sort of meh on Watts and her style. She never looks hideous, but sometimes I do think Watts is stuck in a style rut. This Prada is a good example – I know why Naomi picked it, it’s because she thinks ice-blue looks good with her coloring, and because she likes these frothy, light dresses. But no one on her styling team realized that the ice blue was very similar to the “Tiffany Blue” of the background, which means Naomi looks like she’s blending into the wall. That’s a rookie mistake, IMO. Photos courtesy of WENN.

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Prince William & Kate did their final tour photo-op in front of the Taj Mahal

Embed from Getty Images We’re finally at the end of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s exhaustive India-Bhutan royal tour. The tour did not go off without a hitch, although I have to say… it felt like Will and Kate kept up a tighter, busier schedule than they have for previous tours. They saved “the best for last,” meaning they saved the biggest photo-op for their very last day. They flew out of Bhutan early this morning and went back to India for the Taj Mahal photo-op. Several months ago, I wouldn’t have said this photo-op was any big deal – after all, most tourists moving through India try to see the Taj Mahal. But Will and Kate made such a big deal about Princess Diana’s connection to the Taj and how they were going there to “create new memories,” so it became a big deal, likely the biggest part of their tour. Apparently it was 109 degrees Fahrenheit (aka hot as balls) in Agra today and both Will and Kate were sweating a bit, as we all would be. Still, Kate chose not to pull her hair up, because of course she didn’t. Kate also chose to wear a Indian-American designer, Naeem Khan. This dress has a STRAIGHT SKIRT, people! We’re on high alert! Kate realized that she couldn’t flash everyone at the Taj Mahal, so she consciously chose a straight skirt, not some light, un-weighted full skirt. Princess Diana also wore a straight-ish wrap skirt when she went to the Taj Mahal (alone). But… Kate didn’t attempt a redo/homage of Diana’s look, thankfully. Diana paired purple with red and white. Kate did blue and white. You’ll also notice that the scaffolding still appears on the Taj Mahal, so the Cambridges didn’t get their way in asking for the scaffolding to be taken down for their photo-op. PS… I missed a few outfits in Bhutan, but over the next few days, I’ll be doing some wrap-up stories on the tour and some of the minor controversies, so we’ll have those fashion pics in the coming days, don’t worry! Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images The Duke and Duchess at the Taj Mahal #RoyalVisitIndia pic.twitter.com/ObrHIr5QUS — Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) April 16, 2016 Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.