Today I’m excited to be appearing on the fourth hour of TODAY with Kathie Lee and Hoda. Here’s just a sample of what we’ll be talking about!
HIDING YOUR ROOTS?
PBS has a documentary series called “Finding Your Roots” that traces the ancestry of celebrities. Now there’s a new controversy that Ben Affleck, who was featured on the series, asked that they NOT mention on his episode that one of his ancestors owned slaves.
This is not the first time a celebrity has learned that they have slave owner relatives from participating in the program – it’s happened four or five times before – both Ken Burns and Anderson Cooper were two of those cases – but this is reportedly the first time a celebrity has asked that the discovery be omitted from the show.
Both PBS and the host of the show (Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates) have responded with statements saying they didn’t censor the slave-owner details, instead focusing on other aspects of his ancestry.
“For any guest, we always find far more stories about ancestors on their family trees than we ever possibly could use … we decided to go with the story we used about his fascinating ancestor who became on occultist following the Civil War. This guy’s story was totally unusual: we had never discovered someone like him before,” Gates said.
Affleck’s camp has not yet responded publicly to the story. Also, it remains unclear whether Affleck himself or his reps made the request that the information be omitted.
This is all coming out now because some of the emails from the Sony hacking scandal were put in an online database last week… and coincidentally, and Gates had sought out the advice of Sony chief Michael Lynton. The emails voice concern about what would happen if it were ever revealed that this all happened.
FOR CHANNING TATUM, IT’S IN THE BAG (BUT WHAT’S IN THE BAG??)
If you’re looking to meet Channing Tatum – you might want to come to New York City. Apparently Channing left his backpack in a taxicab this weekend and is asking all of us to help.
On Saturday, he tweeted out a desperate plea… “Seriously, left my black backpack in a cab near NYC’s 42nd street. If you find it, email me at findmybag@channingtatumunwrapped.com. Thanks!”
The response was swift, with everything from advice to one woman who tweeted “It’s at my house, come get it!”
The Taxi and Limo commission knows about his missing bag and is hoping someone comes forward. There is no word about what is in that bag, but there is hope! In the past everything from a 4 million dollar cello to a transplant organ has reportedly been returned. (That raises a lot of questions we don’t have time for but apparently that’s the case!)
So here’s hoping Channing gets his bag back.
DEMI MOORE SELLS HER DREAM HOUSE
Demi Moore wants to sell her VERY pricey triplex for – wait for it – 75 MILLION DOLLARS.
She and Bruce Willis bought the South tower of the San Remo 25 years ago. It’s insanely beautiful – with about 7000 square feet inside and 1500 square feet of terraces with park, city and city view. (They also own a Maisonette on the ground floor that is also for sale.) The monthly maintenance charge alone for the place is almost 18,000 dollars a month. She’s selling it because she doesn’t spend much time there.
But when she did, she’s had some fancy neighbors. The owner of the other tower is Bono!
This is the same building that rejected Madonna moving in, but other residents have included Dustin Hoffman, Diane Keaton and Steven Spielberg.
Demi’s daughter Rumer is getting a lot of buzz these days, as she’s currently one of the favorites to win Dancing With The Stars this season. Rumer recently opened up about growing up with famous parents and said it was often hard for her to find friends her own age as a kid.
FAST AND THE FURIOUS
Fast and Furious 7 is living up to its name at the box office – it’s officially become the fastest film to make $1 billion worldwide – and it made the massive figure in just 17 days.
The success of the current film can be partly attributed to the fact that is serves as a memorial for the late Paul Walker – but it also has prompted a lot of speculation as to whether an 8th will be in the cards.
Both Vin Diesel and Ludacris, who are stars in the film, have been hinting that there very well could be one. (Ludacris posted a faux logo for Fast And Furious 8 on social media and it got shared and liked like crazy!) Since this is Universal’s first film to gross over a billion dollars, you have to imagine that they are already thinking about the sequel possibilities.
For more scoop, keep watching TODAY, and follow @BrianBalthazar on twitter!