In some disturbing Bachelor universe news, season 23 winner Cassie Randolph has filed a restraining order against that season’s titular bachelor, Colton Underwood.
Randolph, who announced in May that she and Underwood had broken up, submitted paperwork in Los Angeles on Friday, Us Weekly reports, citing “Domestic Violence Prevention” as the impetus for her request.
TMZ claims to have gotten ahold of Randolph’s court documents, and the details they’ve published are very alarming. According to the outlet, Randolph claims that Underwood has been stalking and harassing her, showing up at both her and her parents’ homes uninvited as well as sending her “unsettling” text messages accusing her of spending time with other ex-boyfriends.
Randolph also alleges that Underwood has been taking late-night walks around her apartment complex and that he once placed a tracking device on the bottom of her car, which she says he has admitted to.
Jeremy Tardy, the actor who plays Rashid on Dear White People, has announced that he will not be returning for the Netflix series’ fourth and final season. The reason, as he explained in social media posts on Facebook and Twitter, has to do with his “experience with [production company Lionsgate TV] and their practices of racial discrimination.”
According to Tardy, Lionsgate made him an offer to return for a few episodes of this upcoming season of Dear White People. The actor, who plays a recurring role, returned with a counter offer, which Lionsgate refused to consider, Deadline reports. This was “disturbing,” he said, as he knew that a white colleague on the show had “received the same initial offer and had successfully negotiated a counter offer.”
Tardy claims that he and six other recurring cast members formed a bargaining unit and collectively held out on their offers unless Lionsgate gave them all more money. Unfortunately, a couple members of the group dropped out and made one-on-one deals with the studio, undermining any real power that their makeshift union might have held.
“These companies have recently released statements and even donations in support of the Black Lives Matter movement,” Tardy said in his posts. “I am calling out their shameful practices of discrimination and racial inequality with regard to how they have historically undervalued and lowballed people of color. Politically correct lip service and symbolic gestures do not absolve you of the daily responsibility of doing business in a fair and equitable manner.”
“The fact that this has occurred behind the scenes of a show which purports to address systemic issues of racism and discrimination displays the very epitome of hypocrisy,” he continued. “Lionsgate. Netflix. I see you. We see you.”
Fresh off of filing for divorce from her husband of seven years, Brandon Blackstock, Kelly Clarkson says that she’ll be keeping the details of all this close to her chest out of respect for their kids.
“I am a very open person,” she said, per E! News. “But I’m not going to be able to be truly open about this in certain aspects because there’s kids involved.”
“But my children and his older children—there are a lot of little hearts involved in this and while people feel, ‘Oh my gosh, what a loss…’ imagine how it is in the epicenter of the storm,” the singer continued. “It’s a lot to process and deal with, just as a family. So because it’s not just me, I probably won’t go too deep with it.”
Toots Hibbert, the reggae legend who fronted Toots and the Maytals, died on Friday. He was 77. [NPR]
Family of Stevie Lee Richardson announced on Friday that the Jackass star, who wrestled under the name Puppet “the Psycho Dwarf,” had died “unexpectedly at home.” He was 54. [New York Post]
Netflix bought the worldwide distribution rights to Halle Berry’s directorial debut for almost $20 million, which seems like a lot of money, personally. [Variety]
UFC fighter Conor McGregor was detained by police in Corsica on Saturday in connection with an alleged attempted sexual assault. Through a rep, the athlete “vigorously denies any accusations of misconduct.” [TMZ]
A source claims that Kris Jenner pulled the plug on Keeping Up With the Kardashians after both Kim Kardashian West and Kylie Jenner threatened to walk. [Page Six]
Influencer Addison Rae Easterling, the second most followed person on TikTok apparently, is gonna play the Freddie Prinze Jr. character in an upcoming gender-swapped She’s All That remake where “an influencer…attempts to turn a nerdy boy into prom king.” [Variety]
