Chef José Andrés will be honored with the Service to America Leadership Award

Josh Andrés Rivera is joining the cast!

Joe Otterson TV ReporterTiffany Boone is set to star opposite André Holland in the Apple limited series “The Big Cigar.”The series is based on the Playboy article of the same name by Joshuah Bearman. It tells the true story of how Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton (Holland) relied in his friend Bert Schneider, the Hollywood producer behind “Easy Rider,” to elude a nationwide manhunt and escape to Cuba.

Tiffany Boone (Hunters) is set to star alongside Andre Holland in The Big Cigar, Apple’s limited series that chronicles the story of Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton’s escape to Cuba, from Claws showrunner Janine Sherman Barrois, Don Cheadle, Joshuah Bearman and Warner Bros. TV.

Josh Andrés Rivera will be returning to work with his West Side Story star Rachel Zegler in Lionsgate’s growing ensemble prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. 

Tom Blyth is playing the role of Coriolanus Snow. Rivera also joins his fellow “West Side Story” alum Rachel Zegler who is set to play Lucy Gray Baird in the film.The prequel film in the franchise that has grossed over $3 billion globally is based on the best-selling novel by Suzanne Collins and slated to hit theaters on November 17, 2023.Lawrence returns to the series having directed the sequels “Catching Fire” and both parts of “Mockingjay.”Collins, Tim Palen, and Jim Miller will serve as executive producers on the new project.

Spanish native José Andrés became one of the most celebrated chefs in the world, popularizing tapas – small plate dining – in America. But of late he’s been focusing on comfort food. Comfort food in the truest sense, the kind the nonprofit he founded, World Central Kitchen, makes for people in times of disaster.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThursday morning’s announcement of several new Grammy Awards, particularly the long-overdue Songwriter of the Year honor, has already gotten a strong response from the music community. It also reflects an Academy that has been increasingly and more immediately responsive to calls from the community — while the Songwriter of the Year has been a glaring and baffling omission in the half-century-plus since the Grammys began, calls for it have increased in recent years.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorPopular chef, author and humanitarian Jose Andrés is joining the ranks of newsletter scribes and podcastersHis media company Jose Andrés Media, will launch “Longer Tables,” a new weekly newsletter in partnership with Substack that aims to highlight stories that illustrate how food connects people around the world. The publication is expected to contain “deep dives into food history and the politics of nutrition, profiles of the chef’s growing community of food fighters, as well as recipes and audio and video postcards from Chef Andrés’ travels around the globe,” according to the company.

Margaret Qualley and Jack Antonoff are engaged!

Apparent divisions within the LGBTQI+ community came to the fore at a reception for the southern African Kopano gathering in Cape Town as some protested the City’s involvement with the event.

Thania Garcia Brandy upheld her promise to “murk” Jack Harlow in rap and “sing his ass to sleep,” dropping punchy bars for her own rendition of “First Class” that premiered on Hot 97’s “Ebro in the Morning” show on Wednesday.The nearly two-minute freestyle is in response to Harlow’s interview with that same outlet where he couldn’t identify Brandy’s 1998 “Angels In Disguise” and had no idea that the R&B singer was Ray J’s sister.That prompted Brandy to send out a pair of tweets vowing to show up the rapper but reminded audiences that it was “all love.”I will murk this dude in rap at 43 on his own beats and then sing is ass to sleep. ♠️— b r a n d y (@4everBrandy) May 17, 2022See, I can have a little fun too♥️ hehe…all love♥️♥️♥️— b r a n d y (@4everBrandy) May 17, 2022 Her freestyle response to the Louisville rapper is a playful remix of Harlow’s chart-topping “First Class,” and Brandy demonstrated her ability to bar up.