Kevin Hart revisits his tough year: “I had some bumps in the road”

ABC/Randy Holmes(LOS ANGELES) — Kevin Hart is looking forward to 2018. After a roller coaster of a year that included a cheating scandal and the birth of his son, Kenzo, Hart explains that he’s focused on being a better man next year.

In an interview with Extra, Mario Lopez’s daughter Gia asked the comedian what he would like Santa to bring him for the holiday and if he’s been naughty or nice.

“That’s definitely a tough question for Kevin Hart right now,” Hart said, leaning down towards the young girl as she holds the mic. “It was a tough year for me. I had some bumps in the road but the good thing is you take steps backwards to take steps great forwards.”

Kevin added, “I recovered from some not-nice times, now, what I basically want is for Santa to know now, I’m doing good and I’m doing better — I’m a good guy.”

As previously reported, Hart became the target of an alleged sex extortion scandal in September.

The actor went on Instagram to apologize to his wife and kids for an unspecified indiscretion. His management released a statement to ABC News the next day, saying Hart was a victim of extortion, but declined to provide details, citing an ongoing investigation.

Is Ellie Goulding in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi?”

ABC/Image Group LABy now you’ve probably heard that Prince William and Prince Harry of Great Britain supposedly make cameo appearances as First Order storm troopers in the new Star Wars movie The Last Jedi. But now another British celebrity claims that she also made a cameo in the film.

Ellie Goulding tweeted, “Has anybody seen Star Wars yet and seen someone who resembles me in it awkward if I got cut. Haha.”

The “Love Me Like You Do” singer then added, “Either way it was a really awesome experience. Great to be in the rebel army for a day :).”

Predictably, this news freaked out Ellie’s fans, who started asking her via Twitter if she was serious. “Ha of course it’s true. I played the wrap party too,” she replied.

It’s still not 100% clear if Ellie is playing a Jedi mind trick on her fans, but she does love Star Wars.

Selena Gomez wishes Taylor Swift a happy birthday: “I wish some knew how big your heart actually is”

Trae Patton/CBS via Getty ImagesNot long ago, Selena Gomez noted in an interview that she and Taylor Swift have been friends for about 12 years: they met when she was dating Nick Jonas and Taylor was dating Joe Jonas. Since then, they’ve both been through a lot — and a lot of different relationships, too — but they’ve always had each other’s backs. It’s no wonder, then, that Selena posted a super-sweet message for Taylor on her birthday Wednesday.

Writing on Instagram, Selena captioned a blurry photo of the two of them together, “I’m glad you were born. You write all the thoughts some aren’t able to articulate. (ME!) Thank you for giving a voice to this world that is authentic and inspiring.”

She added, “I wish some knew how big your heart actually is.. it’s fierce, bold and freaking wild with light. I’m glad you protect that. Love you @taylorswift.”

SNL “Weekend Update” anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che named co-head writers

NBC/Will Heath

(NEW YORK) — Saturday Night Live‘s “Weekend Update” anchors, Colin Jost and Michael Che, have been tapped as head writers, the show announced on Tuesday.

Jost and Che — who took over the “Weekend Update” desk in 2014 — join current head writers Kent Sublette and Bryan Tucker, who replaced Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider. Kelly and Schneider left the Saturday night staple for their own Comedy Central series, The Other Two.

Jost, a four-time Writers Guild of America Award-winner and Peabody Award recipient, started out as a writer on the sketch comedy show in 2005. He previously served as SNL head writer — taking over for Seth Meyers in 2012 — but stepped down in 2015 to focus his attention on “Weekend Update.”

Che, who appeared on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show before joining SNL in 2013, made Variety’s 10 Comics to Watch list and Rolling Stone’s 50 Funniest People the same year. His addition makes him the first person of color to be a head writer on SNL.

Also on Tuesday, SNL named Sudi Green and Fran Gillespie as writing supervisors.

Watch now: Nick Jonas debuts video for Golden Globe-nominated song “Home”

Getty Images via ABCFresh off his Golden Globe nomination for co-writing “Home, Nick Jonas has now released the music video for the track.

“You guys know how special #HOME is to me & I‘m so happy to finally get to share the video!” Nick writes on Instagram. “We wanted to create a video showing people of all different walks of life connecting and coming together. Love and acceptance are two of the best things we can give each other.”

The song is featured in the animated movie Ferdinand and scenes from the film play throughout the video as Nick sings and plays his guitar in the middle of an empty bullfighting ring. Towards the end, a diverse group of people enters the ring and dances around Nick.

Based on the classic children’s book, Ferdinand is about a Spanish fighting bull, voiced by John Cena, who would much rather live a peaceful existence. It opens December 15.

Fox’s “A Christmas Story Live!” to feature a Bebe who won’t shoot your eye out

Jordin Althaus / FOXOn Sunday night, Fox will air another one of its patented live musical productions, and Bebe Rexha has been tapped to get the party started.

Fox’s A Christmas Story Live! will air Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, and apparently, the network wanted the production to include a Bebe that wouldn’t shoot your eye out. She’ll be opening the show by performing a new holiday song called “Count on Christmas.”

It was written specifically for the special by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who also composed the show’s other songs, as well as the Tony-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen and the Oscar-winning La La Land song “City of Stars.”

The rest of the cast includes Maya Rudolph, Matthew Broderick, Jane Krakowski, Ana Gasteyer, David Allen Grier and Ken Jeong, as well as boy band PRETTYMUCH, who’ll appear as the Hohman, Indiana carolers.

JC Chasez says ‘NSync reunion is not happening: “The answer is no”

PRNewsfoto/Epic RightsSorry, ‘NSYNC fans. JC Chasez just put the kibosh on any hope of a reunion.

“The answer is no,” JC tells Us Weekly. “I know people want to hear a different answer but we felt like we did what we set out to do.”

He adds, “By the way, we are all still friends and we all still talk about this stuff. But the way we went about it was we had to be inspired by something. And that’s the only way we would do anything.”

JC says they want to continue to be honest with their fans.

“I would never want to take anything from anyone that didn’t feel genuine,” he says. “That’s just kind of the way we approach everything that we do. … I think if they are going to invest in you then you should be fair to them. If you’re not giving everything that you have then you shouldn’t be doing it. That’s out of respect for them.”

Sounds like they won’t be joining Justin Timberlake for his Super Bowl halftime performance after all. But hopefully, the group will come together to accept their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018, and they’ll all be reunited on that line of ‘NSYNC-inspired merchandise that’ll be out next year as well.

As previously reported, that line includes retro 90’s inspired clothing, as well as accessories, electronics, seasonal and home decor, games, collectible figures, slot machines, and more.

Marvel’s “The Punisher” gets reloaded for second season

NetflixThe Punisher is locked and re-loaded: the Marvel Netflix show about the vigilante superhero has been renewed for a second season.

The streaming service made the announcement on the show’s Facebook page on Tuesday with a graphic of a skull — the hero’s logo — and the legend: “He’s just getting started. The Punisher will return for Season 2.”

The shoot-em-up series stars Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle — a Special Forces Marine who takes brutal revenge on the men who murdered his family, and just about every other criminal he comes across.

The character first appeared on the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man in 1974, but the fan favorite soon spawned his own books. Bernthal debuted his bruising portrayal of Castle in Season 2 of Daredevil on Netflix.

A season-two premiere date has yet to be announced.

For his part, Bernthal is ready. He tweeted: “Semper Fi. Let’s. Do. This.”

Marvel, like ABC, is owned by Disney.

“Alexa, what were the top song lyric requests of 2017?”

Capitol Records2017 brought us the magic of Amazon’s Alexa, which allowed music fans everywhere to listen to their favorite songs without knowing the song title or the artist name. All you had to do was say, “Alexa, play the song that goes….” or “Play the song with the lyrics…” and you were good.

Now, Amazon has released the song lyrics that users quoted the most when asking for songs.

According to published reports, the lyric that was #1 on the list of Alexa’s Top Lyric Requests of 2017 is “I just wanna Roley, Roley, Roley,” from the song “Roxex,” by Ayo & Teo. The second most-requested lyric was “I’m a rebel just for kicks,” from Portugal. The Man‘s “Feel It Still.” Number three? “Swish, swish, bish,” from Katy Perry‘s Taylor Swift diss track, “Swish Swish.”

Here are the rest of the top 15 most-requested lyrics on Alexa:

4. “…push me to the edge, all my friends are dead…” (“Xo Tour Llif3,” Lil Uzi Vert)
5. “…I’m in love with the shape of you…” (“Shape of You,” Ed Sheeran)
6. “…I’m weak, and what’s wrong with that…” (“Weak,” AJR)
7. “…I want something just like this…” (“Something Just Like This,” The Chainsmokers & Coldplay)
8. “…I’m in love with your body…” (“Shape of You,” Ed Sheeran)
9. “…I finally found something I’m good at…” (“Somethin’ I’m Good At,” Brett Eldredge)
10. “…love like there’s no such thing as a broken heart…” (“No Such Thing as a Broken Heart,” Old Dominion)
11. “…I don’t wanna be alive…” (“1-800-273-8255,” Logic feat. Alessia Cara & Khalid)
12. “…that’s how you speak to a girl…” (“Speak to a Girl,” Tim McGraw & Faith Hill)
13. “…that’s what lovers do…” (“What Lovers Do” Maroon 5 feat. SZA)
14. “…wake up in the morning then I dab…” (“Lean and Dabb,” iLoveMemphis)
15. “…if we go down, we go down together…” (“Paris,” The Chainsmokers)

Meanwhile, Amazon Music Unlimited has released a list of this year’s most-played tracks on the service. Here are the top 15:

1. “Believer” — Imagine Dragons
2. “Despacito” (Remix) — Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee
3. “Perfect” — Ed Sheeran
4. “Sorry Not Sorry” — Demi Lovato
5. “Something Just Like This” — The Chainsmokers & Coldplay
6. “Thunder” — Imagine Dragons
7. “Body Like a Back Road” — Sam Hunt
8. “rockstar” — Post Malone feat. 21 Savage
9. “Praying” — Kesha
10. “1-800-273-8255” — Logic feat. Alessia Cara & Khalid
11. “Havana” — Camila Cabello
12. “In Case You Didn’t Know” — Brett Young
13. “Bodak Yellow” — Cardi B
14. “Love So Soft” — Kelly Clarkson
15. “When It Rains It Pours” — Luke Combs

Watch video now: Taylor Swift tour tickets go on sale today, her 28th birthday

TAS Rights ManagementTaylor Swift is celebrating her 28th birthday Wednesday as tickets officially go on sale for her Reputation world tour. The singer has also released a new tour trailer to get fans pumped.

The promo video, set to her song “Ready for It?,” features clips from her “Look What You Made Me Do” video interspersed with footage from her Super Saturday Night performance earlier this year.

Hardcore Swifties had the chance to purchase tickets in a special pre-sale last month through Taylor Swift Tix, powered by Ticketmaster Verified Fans.

Taylor’s stadium tour kicks off May 8 in Glendale, Arizona, and hits 33 cities before wrapping in October.

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