From dropped charges to a surprise guest, here are you top entertainment headlines.
Baldwin Charges Dropped
Alec Baldwin took to Instagram to thank his wife after it was announced he would no longer be facing criminal charges in the accidental shooting death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Baldwin had been brought up on two manslaughter charges after a gun he was holding on the set of the movie let off a live round that killed Hutchins in October 2021. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film's armorer, still faces an involuntary manslaughter charge.
Lawyers for the weapons handler expect her charges to be dropped as well.
"The new special prosecutor team has taken a very diligent and thorough approach to the entire investigation, which we welcome and have always welcomed," said attorneys Jason Bowel and Todd Bullion in a joint statement to Yahoo. "We fully expect at the end of this process that Hannah will also be exonerated."
Cleopatra's Race Row
Netflix is gearing up to tell the story of Egyptian queen Cleopatra, but it isn't landing on the platform without controversy.
An Egyptian lawyer filed a complaint against Netflix for its upcoming docudrama African Queens: Queen Cleopatra for violating its media laws, stating that the project is actively participating in the erasure of the historic queen's identity.
The issue lies with the skin color of the actor cast to portray Cleopatra, Adele James, a mixed-race woman from the UK , who has become the focus of this racially-charged opposition. The filing and social media comments claim that Cleopatra was "light-skinned, not Black," and are seeking to have the entirety of Netflix itself blocked in Egypt.
The legendary Egyptian queen was born in Alexandria around 70 BCE and was the daughter of the Macedonian general, Ptolemy XII, but her mother's heritage remains unclear with some experts suspecting she could have been of African descent.
Meanwhile, Jada Pinkett Smith, the executive producer, said, "We don't often get to see or hear stories about Black queens, and that was really important for me, as well as for my daughter, and just for community to be able to know those stories because there are tons of them."
Coachella's Surprise
When Frank Ocean drastically changed his set last weekend that faced a subsequent backlash for what many deemed a lackluster return to the stage, questions were raised about his second headlining weekend. However, earlier this week, Ocean pulled out of the show, citing an ankle injury he suffered on festival grounds prior to the first performance. There was speculation that the recently reunited Blink 182 would be tapped to replace him following the success of their performance in the first weekend of the festival, but those reports were quickly shut down.
A surprise performer instead will fill Ocean's spot, which is slated to kick off at 10:45 PDT on Saturday.
