Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson are expecting their second child together via surrogate — TMZ reports. The news arrives days before the birth, which marks Khloe and Tristan’s second child together, but the Chicago Bulls basketball player’s fourth child. The timeline reveals that the two planned and arranged for a second child together prior to the break-up following news of Tristan cheating on the Kardashian, which resulted in the birth of his third child with fitness trainer Maralee Nichols in December 2021.
Khloe and Tristan split last summer following the reveal and public apology from Thompson. The revelation of Thompson’s infidelities was showcased on the new season of Hulu’s The Kardashians. The two have been seen spending time together as a family recently.
In the new season, Khloe and Tristan have discussed expanding their family and rekindling their love at its foundation. Khloe and Tristan were on hand for the proposal of Khloe’s sister Kourtney and rock star Travis Baker in Malibu, California last year.
Hulu shares the official trailer for their upcoming eight-episode scripted series from director Steven Rodgers (I, Tonya), “Mike,” that transforms lead actor Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight) into the iconic former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson. The limited series will show an unauthorized and no-holds-barred look at the controversial Hall-of-Fame boxing legend’s life. Watch the official trailer below.
Mike Tyson (50-6-44KOs) became the youngest heavyweight boxing champion ever at 18-years-old in November 1986 when he knocked out Trevor Berbick in the second round. Tyson was one of the most famous athletes of the 80s and 90s. The series tells the dynamic moments of his life, like knocking out fighters in seconds, shocking losses, high-profile relationships, lavish life, prison stint, and triumphant return to fame.
Produced by 20th Television, Trevante Rhodes stars and serves as one of the series’ executive producers. Karin Gist serves as the series showrunner. Alongside Rhodes are cast members Russell Hornsby, Harvey Keitel, Laura Harrier, and Li Eubanks.
“Mike” is a biographical series that will lead to more sports stories being told by Hulu. Last year President of ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals Craig Erwich told Deadline the following: “Biographical pictures are a fan favorite and a staple of the movie and television business and frequently the subjects are not involved. We have a strategy of taking a modern lens and applying it to stories and figures of popular culture of the past. We’ve had a lot of success doing that, and I think it reveals interesting things, not just about where we’ve been but where we are, so we’re looking forward to continuing the creative conversations behind Iron Mike.”
The existence of the Hulu documentary Look At Me: XXXTentacion is sort of perplexing. XXXTentacion was an artist who was almost excessively documented. Blogs, magazines, and newspapers covered what seemed to be his every move — starting with the move that kickstarted his infamy. Oddly enough, with all that documentation, it seems the enormity and repugnance of that initial move were never truly reckoned with, despite the Florida-born artist emerging at the height of an era in which nearly everyone can obsessively and thoroughly document their own lives, in real-time for audiences of thousands (the film seems pretty disinterested in doing so, as well).
Against those circumstances, the new documentary raises more questions than it answers, and the one hovering over all of them is: Who is this for? Produced by XXXTentacion’s manager, his mother, and the co-founder of The Fader magazine, the two-hour production functions at first as a biography. There are interviews with pivotal figures in X’s early career such as his former manager and friends like Ski Mask The Slump God. However, early problematic behavior like beating up another young man for a live stream on Periscope is characterized as simply marketing tactics or the reckless behavior of an exuberant personality. That’s the first sign of which way this documentary seems to be heading.
The tension increases upon the introduction of Geneva Ayala, the young woman who dated X shortly after some of his initial success — and who he nearly beat to death in horrific instances of alleged domestic abuse that were again recounted in lurid detail in court documents that surfaced in the years-long case that was never resolved. Ayala describes herself as “lost” as she continued her troubling, controlling relationship with XXXTentacion. It takes nearly an hour for the film to finally address the elephant in the room, and then strategically placed title cards seem to cast doubt on Ayala’s assertion that she was pregnant when X attacked her. She also admits to infidelity, which you can’t tell me isn’t another strategic move to undermine Ayala as a victim.
This is where XXXTentacion’s story highlights the grotesque of the entertainment industry. As X languishes in jail but receives heightened attention as a result of the gruesome charges against him, labels come calling, looking to capitalize on the publicity — no matter what it implies about their prospective partner. And while scenes recounting his record deal negotiations rightly reflect X’s business acumen at such a young age, they also — perhaps unintentionally — indict those who looked at him as a cash cow rather than a troubled young man who needed a different kind of help.
The movie reverts back to an examination of his album recording process for 17 and the album’s resulting success. Throughout the course of this act of the documentary, recordings are dredged up to reflect XXXTentacion’s fractured mind state — his paranoia, depression, and anxiety. It’s almost like the film is begging for sympathy for him, as if his talent and his mental illness could justify or excuse his behavior. While the filmmakers never shy away from the things he did or deny them, it’s hard to shake the sense that the producers — the people closest to him, who benefitted from his career the most, even as they likely had the most responsibility to get him into counseling or encourage him to restore his victims — are bargaining for absolution for themselves.
That sense comes through strongest in a round table scene toward the tail end of the film in which X’s aunt laments that X’s abuse hung over his head and defined him as much as his music. “How do you fully redeem yourself if every time, on every corner, it just keeps popping up?” his mom wonders. An off-screen interviewer counters, “How do you redeem yourself without ever admitting that you did something wrong?” The answers are as vague as X’s own responses on the issue; a focus on judgment, on his sense of personal accountability, the potential of his lost life. X’s mom offers her belief that he would have changed if he’d only gotten the chance — but would he? And what does it say about his fame that so many were so willing to excuse him if he didn’t?
That’s the true tragedy of a life cut as short as XXXTentacion’s was: We’ll never know. Yes, with more time, he could have turned his life around, perhaps in prison, perhaps on probation, perhaps years or even decades later after much therapy and self-reflection. But the flip side of that, the one this movie and X’s fans and the whole entertainment apparatus that benefitted from covering his blowups, his meltdowns, his triumphs, his failures, and yes, even his untimely demise can’t seem to acknowledge is that he could have stayed the same. He could have gotten worse. That’s the “complex” part of having a “complex legacy.” Look At Me, which seems to be as much for Jahseh’s closest associates to salve their guilty consciences as anything else, never really wants to look at that.
The trailer for the long-awaited documentary, Look At Me: XXXTentacion, has arrived. First announced in 2019, the documentary will finally land on Hulu on May 26, moving the date up by several weeks. The documentary promises to delve into not just the late rapper’s meteoric rise to fame but also the fallout from his abuse of ex-girlfriend Geneva Ayala. In the trailer, those who knew him best — his mother, his manager, and his friends — weigh in on the elements of his personality that made him both charismatic and self-destructive.
XXXTentacion’s death at 20 years of age in 2018 left behind a complicated legacy. Obviously, lots of people loved his music and felt as though he spoke for them. Equally as obviously, he’d done plenty of harm in even the short time that he had, from a homophobic attack on a cellmate to the horrific abuse he inflicted on Ayala. The polarizing rapper was never held to account for that abuse, with his case getting closed as a result of his death. That leaves some pretty heavy questions hanging over his name and image — questions that many will look to this documentary to resolve. While they may not find the answers they want, there’s little question that they’ll be tuning in.
It’s not always feasible to put a weekend aside and get out to a major music festival, but now three of the biggest will be more accessible than ever, at least for the next couple years: It was announced today Hulu will be the streaming home of Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and Austin City Limits (all events put on by C3 Presents) for the 2022 and 2023 events, in partnership with Live Nation.
The next of those festivals is Bonnaroo, which is set to go down from June 16 to 19. Then it’s Lollapalooza from July 28 to 31, followed by two weekends of ACL, from October 7 to 9 and 14 to 16.
Hulu president Joe Earley in a statement, “Hulu and Live Nation are both committed to delivering exceptional entertainment to fans, so we are thrilled to be collaborating with them, again, as we expand our offering to include these three legendary festivals. Each event is unique, but all three bring people together for incredible music, artistry, and experiences, which we are fortunate to be able to share with Hulu subscribers.”
C3 Presents’ Charlie Walker also noted, “The demand for live music is at an all-time high and the live experience has never been more connected to digital. By expanding our partnership with Hulu, even more fans will be able to tune into each of these incredible festival experiences in real-time and enjoy live performances from their favorite artists with the fans on-site.”
Is it unfiltered talking head interviews from an artist’s inner circle, narrating their rise to fame and filling in the gaps with unheard tales of tragedy and triumph? Is it hundreds of hours’ worth of archival footage that transports fans back to the tour buses and motels and the chaotic marathon of on-the-road, small-town gigs? Is it the artist themselves taking control of the camera to give us a more intimate, insightful look into their creative process — the highs, the lows, the sacrifices, and the perks of fame?
Is it a combination of all of these?
Whatever that magical “it” factor is, all of the docs on this list — from tranquil recording sessions to cinematic road trip movies to dramatic reenactments to reels of film that have been hidden away for decades — have it in some form or other.
There’s a kind of mythos surrounding The Beatles, their meteoric rise, and their complicated break-up. Much of that is fueled by the untimely death of their founding member, John Lennon, but more still stems from the group’s prolific lyrical output — something that’s on full display in Peter Jackson’s biographical epic, Get Back. The three-part six-hour-long documentary is a musical odyssey, one that peels back the veneer of nostalgia and gives us a raw, moving, and at times unbearably intimate look at the four lads whose influence is still being felt, decades after their initial peak of stardom. Subdued and unstructured but made with purpose, the series gives us a glimpse of these figures with episodes of genius on full display — like when Paul riffs on his bass and produces one of the band’s biggest hits in just a few minutes. The best moments come when we get an unedited look at the strife, tension, and profound connection these musical icons shared, though.
Billie Eilish: Happier Than Ever, A Love Letter to Los Angeles (2021)
Run Time: 65 min
Billie Eilish has had a prodigious career. That’s not hyperbole, it’s simply a fact. She’s ticked off everything from Grammy wins and Oscars trophies to headlining the world’s major music festivals and being interesting enough that not one, but two documentaries have attempted to distill her star power to something us mere mortals can understand. In this doc, which stands as Billie’s love letter to her hometown, director Robert Rodriguez throws animation into the mix, creating a kind of hybrid doc/album concept film that’s both beautifully straightforward and deceptively insightful.
Go all the way back to the consequential summer of 1969 as Roots crew drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson brings the incomparable Harlem Cultural Festival to life with his Oscar-winning Summer Of Soul. Filled with a collection of performances from iconic musicians like Stevie Wonder and Gladys Knight, this doc doubly rewards viewers by diving into the intersection between current events and music, showcasing the power of music and an event that has been shockingly under-remembered until now.
The only female artist who’s had a bigger breakout than Billie Eilish is this Disney star whose catchy-as-hell breakup track, Driver’s License catapulted her to the top of the charts during a pandemic that had us all feeling a little blue. This doc shares some of the same qualities that made that song, and its accompanying music video, such a hit. There’s a barren feeling to all of the deserts and flatlands Rodrigo drives through while on her way from the recording studio where she created her debut album Sour, back home to California. There’s also a vintage, grainy filter imposed on all of the vistas she stops at along the way, performing some of the album’s biggest hits to intimate crowds and fan gatherings. It’s a vibe – and a worthy entry into the music doc space from an artist who’s just getting started.
Of the two stellar albums Taylor Swift dropped in 2020, Folklore was the one with the least fanfare surrounding it — a record Swift quietly unveiled that guided fans even deeper into the fantasy-like wood she’d escaped to during quarantine. And with this doc — an intimate, no-frills recording session in a rustic cabin by a lake, somewhere north of New York City – Swift doubles down on this new era of her career she’s knowingly entered into. This is a doc about Taylor Swift, the songwriter – not the pop star or tabloid target. Stripped down and raw, the doc merges some home videos of Swift recording the album years earlier with frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff and newcomer (to the Swift scene) Aaron Dessner with live performances from Swift, held in between chats that dive deep into her musical knowledge and her artistic process. It’s illuminating in the best way and Swift has never been better.
Before Lin Manuel-Miranda was creating Oscar-nominated bops for Disney flicks and winning Peabody awards for history-making Broadway musicals, he was just a guy on a street corner in the Heights, freestyling with his friends. This doc, which leans heavily on archival footage of Miranda and fellow Freestyle Supreme members like Thomas Kail, Christopher Jackson, and others, charts the rise of the group whose on-stage trick is to take audience suggestions and turn them into feature-length raps and bops and skits for our entertainment. There’s some incredible talent on display here as we see the group perform at fringe fests and basement cellars, but somehow, knowing the success each of these guys will one day find makes viewing their humble beginning even more exciting.
In 1972, Aretha Franklin gave a two-night performance of some of her biggest hits in a crowded Baptist church. Decades later, we finally get that footage. Filmed by Sydney Pollock, this is Aretha Franklin before people universally recognized her as an icon. Her voice is unparalleled, her energy infectious, her talent obvious, but this doc shows the synergy between her religious upbringing and the music she would bring to the world. It might just move you to tears.
Of the two Blackpink docs circulating the streaming world, this Hulu entry highlights the girl group’s undeniable stage presence, weaving concert footage from their most recent internet-breaking performance, “The Show” with older clips from when they were just beginning their reign as the queens of KPop. There’s a bit of commentary from the women as they reflect on their bond and how they’ve gotten this far, but the strongest moments are when fans get to watch them in their element, killing intricately choreographed numbers and serving up some of the best live shows we’ve seen yet.
The most fascinating music docs tell the stories of stars before they became them. Plenty of entries on this list fit the bill, but none do it like this hybrid film that mixes archival footage and glimpses of Madonna’s old stomping grounds in Detroit with dramatic reenactments of the artist’s earliest days in New York. The journey is gripping, from mourning her mother and hoping to escape the dreariness of her hometown, to hitting the scene in Queens during a musical rebirth when fashion and art, and street culture were colliding to form a creative environment unique enough to turn a talented former dancer into a pop music behemoth.
Music fans have likely heard the name Frank Zappa, but few truly understand just how unique and idiosyncratic his career truly was. This doc aims to rectify that, combing through hundreds of hours of archival footage supplied by Zappa’s estate to paint a picture of the sometimes-acclaimed, sometimes-controversial musician that we simply haven’t seen before. From his early beginnings worshipping the musical oddities to spoofing hit Beatles records to fighting American censorship, Zappa was an individual in every sense of the word, which makes charting his musical journey all the more interesting.
Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl scandal has become the subject of a new documentary coming soon to Hulu and FX, according to Deadline. After the success of the New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears, the streamer is taking on the backlash against Jackson in Malfunction: The Dressing Down Of Janet Jackson, launching on November 19 (incidentally, both docs prominently feature Justin Timberlake for his role in both women’s respective downfalls. I don’t know what it says about JT that he was so closely involved in both but it feels a little like he’s gone through his own version of what they went through over the last few years, falling out of public favor as social media became more prevalent.).
For those who don’t remember, during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, Janet Jackson joined Justin Timberlake on stage during a performance of his song “Rock Your Body,” ending with Timberlake pulling part of Jackson’s costume off, baring her breast and touching off a national controversy that led to Janet essentially being blackballed by the entertainment industry. The incident coined the infamous term “wardrobe malfunction” and a content crackdown by government and network regulators.
According to Deadline, the film will “examine the racial and cultural currents that collided on the Super Bowl stage, and explores how the incident impacted one of the most successful pop musicians in history.” It will include interviews with some of the producers of the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, as well as “music industry insiders,” cultural critics, and members of Janet’s famous family.
Earlier in the month, Lollapalooza and Hulu announced that they had officially partnered to allow subscribers to watch the upcoming four-day festival from the comfort of their own homes at no additional cost. Now, according to Hulu’s website, we can confirm that the livestream schedule includes headliners Foo Fighters, Tyler the Creator, Post Malone, Journey, Modest Mouse, Young Thug, Band of Horses, Jimmy Eat World, Black Pumas, The Front Bottoms, White Reaper, and more.
Lollapalooza will kick off July 29 and running to August 1 in Chicago’s Grant Park. The livestream will begin at 11 am PT and come to an end at 8 pm PT each day. Upon announcing the festival’s return this spring, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said, “In alignment with our public health guidance, the world class festival returns to the city later this summer. However, full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test will be required to enjoy the festivities.” Lightfoot also announced that all festivalgoers will be required to be vaccinated or show proof of a negative COVID test in the last 24 hours in order to attend.
In a statement given to Billboard, sponsorship director of Lollapalooza festival promoter C3 Presents Courtney Trucksess expressed their excitement about the livestream partnership: “We are thrilled to be partnering for the first time with Hulu for this year’s livestream and are excited that the Lollapalooza fans who cannot be with us in Chicago have such a great platform to experience the show.” Check out the full schedule below (all times are in CT).
Thursday, July 29
1:10 p.m. – Aly & AJ
1:30 p.m. – Ant Clemons
1:55 p.m. – MAX
3:20 p.m. – Dombresky
4:00 p.m. – Dayglow
5:10 p.m. – Black Pumas
6:20 p.m. – Jimmy Eat World
8:30 p.m. – Steve Aoki
Friday, July 30
1:30 p.m. – Tai Verdes
2:05 p.m. – Tobi Lou
4:05 p.m. – Emotional Oranges
4:40 p.m. – Riot Ten
6:15 p.m. – White Reaper
7:25 p.m. – Jauz
8:00 p.m. – Jack Harlow
9:05 – Tyler The Creator
Saturday, July 31
1:10 p.m. – Cannons
1:50 p.m. – Hinds
4:00 p.m. – Vintage Culture
5:00 p.m. – Young The Giant
8:00 p.m. – Oliver Heldens
8:30 p.m. – Journey
9:20 p.m. – Post Malone
Sunday, August 1
1:10 p.m. – Sir Chloe
1:30 p.m. – Flipp Dinero
3:30 p.m. – Dr. Fresch
4:05 p.m. – Young Thug
5:10 p.m. – The Front Bottoms
6:10 p.m. – Modest Mouse
7:15 p.m. – Band Of Horses
8:20 p.m. – Foo Fighters
Get more info about the upcoming Hulu livestream here.
