Welcome to ICYMI, where we bring you the weekend’s top pop culture and entertainment news you may have missed.
We will keep you updated with the latest information.
Jenna Ortega quits Twitter after seeing AI porn of herself
Jenna Ortega quit X (formerly Twitter) after seeing explicit AI-generated images of herself as a teenager.
While it may seem like the Wednesday star emerged from the goth world two years ago, the 21-year-old actress has been acting professionally since she was 9 years old. That means there’s plenty of Ortega’s work for fans to enjoy, but it also means she’s been exposed to the worst corners of the internet since she was a child.
“I hate AI,” she told The New York Times.
“So AI could be used for incredible things. I think I read the other day that artificial intelligence could detect breast cancer four years before it progresses. That’s amazing. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Did you, at 14, create a Twitter account because you had to and enjoy looking at salacious edited content of yourself as a child? No. It’s horrifying. It’s corrupting. It’s wrong.”
Jenna Ortega (far left) holds a press conference with co-stars Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder and Monica Bellucci for the upcoming sequel to “Beetlejuice.” (Getty: Theo Wargo)
Ortega said the first Twitter direct message he read, when he was 12, was “an unsolicited photo of a man’s genitals, and that was just the beginning of what was to come.”
She deleted her Twitter account about three years ago because her feed was being flooded with “absurd images and videos.”
“It was unpleasant. It made me feel bad. It made me feel uncomfortable,” Ortega continued.
“So I deleted it. I couldn’t say anything without seeing that stuff. And then I woke up one day and was like, oh, I don’t need this anymore. So I deleted it.”
When asked if she regrets getting into the industry at such a young age, she said that she and her parents “regret” it sometimes, but she wouldn’t change anything.
“I’m so grateful for the lessons I learned from this experience, and now when I go on set I’m happy because I’m incredibly knowledgeable,” she said.
Now, get your eyes wet by listening to Ortega’s stunning homage to “Death Becomes Her” in pop star Sabrina Carpenter’s recently released music video.
Melbourne International Film Festival awards more than $250,000 in prizes
Canadian director Matthew Rankin won the 72nd Melbourne International Film Festival’s top prize at a ceremony on Saturday, receiving $140,000 for his second feature film, “Universal Language,” one of the world’s biggest prize moneys in film.
Matthew Rankin (right) co-wrote “Universal Language” with Iranian artists Ira Firouzabadi (left) and Pirouz Nemati. (Courtesy of MIFF)
“Universal Language” is a drama-comedy about the residents of a surreal Winnipeg that imagines Canada’s two languages to be French and Farsi, resembling 1980s Tehran. Rankin, who plays himself in the film, describes the film as an “autobiographical hallucination,” inspired by the death of his parents and his long-standing connection to Iranian culture and film.
Universal Language beat nine other films selected in the Bright Horizons competition for young filmmakers.
The award was decided by the festival’s jury, led by Australian filmmaker Ivan Sen, who also awarded a special jury prize of $15,000 to Latvian director Gints Zilbarodis’ animation film “Flow.”
The judges also awarded the $70,000 Australian Innovation Prize to Australian director Jaydon Martin for his debut feature film, “Flathead,” a documentary fiction piece about a man who returns to his hometown of Bundaberg.
Wiradjuri Scottish artist April Phillips has won the Uncle Jack Charles Award for outstanding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creatives making films at MIFF. She is the lead artist of the digital artwork kajoo yannaga (Come on, let’s walk together), which is showing at ACMI until Saturday 31 August as part of Melbourne Arts Festival Now or Never. The award is worth $45,000, with $20,000 in cash and a range of financial services provided.
Jaydon Martin (left) and April Phillips accept their awards at the 72nd MIFF Awards on Saturday, July 24. (Courtesy of MIFF)
The MIFF School Youth Jury Prize, decided by three young filmmakers, went to Maria Zanetti’s Alemania. This year’s Audience Award was jointly won by two Australian documentaries: Shannon Owen’s Left Write Hook and Voice, co-directed by Krunal Padial and Semara Jose.
Macklemore cancels Dubai show in solidarity with Sudan
Rapper Macklemore canceled a concert scheduled for October in Dubai in protest at the United Arab Emirates’ role in the ongoing “genocide and humanitarian crisis” in Sudan.
The Thrift Shop rapper explained his decision on Instagram over the weekend, citing accusations that the UAE supports paramilitary groups in the country.
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“Over the past few months, many people have reached out to me to share resources and ask me to cancel shows in solidarity with the people of Sudan and to boycott their business in the UAE for the role they are playing in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis in the region,” Macklemore said.
“For me, it was important to learn and really understand the situation. I never make decisions out of fear, but rather make decisions wholeheartedly and carefully.”
Sudan has been in the midst of a civil war between the army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces since April 2023. While the UAE has repeatedly denied supporting the group, UN experts have found “credible” evidence that the UAE is supplying weapons to the paramilitary group.
The conflict has so far killed more than 18,800 people, displaced more than 10 million and put hundreds of thousands at risk of starvation.
“Ultimately, I have to ask myself what my intentions are as an artist. Over the last 10 months, I have learned about the factors and motivations that fuel genocide and systemic global oppression,” Macklemore continued.
Macklemore’s pro-Palestinian rap goes viral on social media
“I fundamentally keep being drawn back to self-interest over the collective good. Capitalism is the glue that holds this ideology together. And if I take money that I know doesn’t fit my ethos, how am I any different to the politicians that I’ve been actively protesting against?”
Macklemore said his learning was inspired by “the plight of the Palestinian people.” Earlier this year, he released “Hind’s Hall,” a protest song calling for a ceasefire.
“That’s it. [change]”When we realize that our individual liberation is the liberation of Palestine, the liberation of Sudan, the liberation of the Congo, we are now called to speak up for the most marginalized people around the world,” he concluded.
“I know this puts future performances in the region in jeopardy and I would hate to disappoint my fans, who I was very excited about. However, I will not be performing there unless the UAE stops providing arms and funding to the RSF.”
Chapel Roan asks ‘superfans’ to keep their distance and respect her boundaries
After a whirlwind 12 months, rising pop star Chapel Lorne has had enough.
In recent weeks, the pop star has released a series of statements asking the public to respect her privacy and condemning “predatory behavior disguised as that of a ‘superfan.'”
After a decade of relative obscurity as a musician, Loan’s fame has risen dramatically since the release of her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, in September. In early August, the 26-year-old performed at Lollapalooza to an estimated crowd of 110,000, the largest audience ever for a single artist at the festival’s 30-plus year history.
She addressed her fans directly on Saturday, posting a seven-slide statement to her 4 million Instagram followers, asking them not to approach or harass her outside of “working hours” for performances or promotions.
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“For the past decade I have worked tirelessly building a project, but I have reached a point where I need to draw lines and set boundaries,” she writes.
“When I’m on stage, performing, cross-dressing, attending a work event, giving a press conference… I’m at work. In any other situation, I’m not in work mode. I’m clocked out. I don’t subscribe to the notion that I owe a mutual exchange of energy, time, or attention to people I don’t know, don’t trust, or who give me the creeps, simply because they admire me. Women shouldn’t have to explain to you why they don’t want to be touched or talked to.”
She asked fans not to touch her in public, not to follow her, “please stop acting weird around my family and friends,” and not to call her by her real name, Kaylee. Preempting criticism, she said this shouldn’t be the flip side of fame.
“I embrace the success of this project, the love I feel and the gratitude I have. What I do not embrace are creepy people, being touched and being followed,” she wrote.
“I feel more love than I’ve ever felt in my life. I feel more anxiety than I’ve ever felt in my life.”
Loan has previously spoken about her rocky relationship with celebrities, saying in a TikTok series last week that it’s “weird that people think they know someone just because they see them online or listen to the art they make.”
During an interview on the podcast “The Comment Section” in July, Loan told host Drew Affalo that she might step down from her career after fans were doing “creepy” things, like finding out her parents’ address and where her sister works.
Baby Bieber (baby, baby, ooh) is finally born
In a heartbreaking reminder that it’s no longer the ’10s, Justin Bieber has welcomed his first child with supermodel wife Hailey Bieber.
The internet had been speculating for months about the baby’s gender and name, with many convinced the baby was a girl named Plum, due to Bieber’s cryptic Instagram posts, celebrities’ penchant for naming their children after fruits, and the internet’s tendency to go too far.
However, the couple decided to defy all odds and revealed via Instagram that they are the proud parents to a little boy named Jack Bruce Bieber.
Welcome to the world, Jack. Can’t wait for “Baby (Remix)” by Justin Bieber ft Baby Bieber in the near future.
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