By Jessica Wedemeyer
8:19am PDT, May 31, 2019
Adam Levine's "The Voice" exit sparked by rule changes, cinched by performance that left NBC brass "furious"
In a May 24 report, TVLine broke down Adam Levine's decision to leave "The Voice" after 16 seasons. The trouble started on May 12 (a Sunday) when the Maroon 5 frontman — who no longer had any artists left in the competition due to a Season 16 rule change — and his fellow judges pre-taped the semifinals instead of doing them live the following day because the foursome were due in New York City to perform as part of NBC's Upfronts presentation. According to TVLine, Adam was "very difficult" throughout the Sunday taping, making it clear that he did not want to be there and refusing to comment on the semifinalists' performances. Eventually, his frustrations bubbled to the surface: "I still don't understand how you're not on my team. I don't think anybody does — just 'cause it's weird how it works now. I'm still learning the rules of the new show," he griped to Kelly Clarkson protégé Rod Stokes. Then on May 13, Adam infuriated his NBC bosses when he phoned in his performance during the Upfronts, leaving them "embarrassed" in front of advertisers. "Adam had been checked out for a while, but this was a new low. It was essentially the straw that broke the camel's back," one source told TVLine. According to another insider, it was "a mutual decision" between Adam and NBC for him to leave the show.
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"Jeopardy!" legend Ken Jennings admits this one thing about James Holzhauer's winning streak bugs him
On the May 28 episode of "Good Morning America," "Jeopardy!" legend Ken Jennings (pictured in 2004) revealed his one complaint about current champ James Holzhauer: that people call him "Jeopardy James." Joked Jennings, "I'm like, 'No, no, no, no, I'm that guy. You can't put 'Jeopardy!' in front of his name. I used to be the 'Jeopardy!' guy!" He went on to say that although he expected someone would eventually break his winning streak, he never imagined "that somebody could make a run at the cash record in, like, a third [of] the time." Added the game-show legend of the new champ, "It's really just astounding what he's doing." Jennings also said he thinks he could hold his own against Holzhauer, though he "would need some breaks."
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CBS News' Scott Pelley says he was fired for complaining about "hostile" workplace
On the May 26 episode of CNN's "Reliable Sources," Scott Pelley said that he was fired from his job hosting "CBS Evening News" and moved to a lesser role serving as a correspondent on "60 Minutes" because he "wouldn't stop complaining to management about the hostile work environment" within the network's news division. "We've been through a dark period of the last several years of incompetent management," he said, adding that after he took his concerns to his boss, he was told that he'd lose his job if he "kept agitating." Eventually, though, he escalated things to the chairman of the CBS Corporation — a pre-scandal Les Moonves — but never heard back about his concerns. "In the next opportunity in my contract, I was let go from the evening news," said the veteran journalist, who concluded by saying that "everything has changed" under the network's new bosses, who have steered CBS back onto "the right track."
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Netflix removes "whitewashed" thumbnail for "Nailed It!" after Nicole Byer protests
On May 28, Netflix removed a promo image for "Nailed It!" featuring the show's white personalities — assistant director Weston Bahr, who occasionally appears on camera, and co-host Jacques Torres — after the show's primary host, Nicole Byer — who was not featured on the thumbnail — took to Twitter to call the image "disrespectful" and to point out that "black women are a lot of times erased from many different conversations." She went on to say that the exclusion "makes me know my true value as the host of the show where I work incredibly hard to elevate the material given to me" and is "essentially white washing for more views." The funnywoman later explained that she deleted her previous tweets after speaking with an exec who promised to have the image removed following "a conversation about how the thumbnails are made and selected that I'm happy with."
Weatherman snaps at viewers as tornado warning interrupts "The Bachelorette"
FOX 45 meteorologist Jamie Simpson wasn't having it when "The Bachelorette" fans took to Twitter to complain about him interrupting the May 27 broadcast of the reality show in Dayton, Ohio, to report on extremely dangerous weather conditions in the area. "No, we're not going back to the show, folks. This is a dangerous situation, OK?" he snapped. "Think about if this was your neighborhood. I'm sick and tired of people complaining about this. Our job here is to keep people safe, and that is what we're going to do. Some of you complained that this is all about my ego. Stop. It's not. I'm done with you people. I really am. This is pathetic." Later in the broadcast, he apologized, saying, "It just really bothers me that we have people that don't care about other people's safety around here."
Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar muted by censors while going off on President Trump on "The View"
The censors were hard at work muting Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar during their discussion of President Donald Trump on the May 28 episode of "The View." Censors muted the "Ghost" actress four times in less than 20 seconds as she passionately discussed the president's penchant for using insulting nicknames for his political rivals. (It's unclear what exactly she said.) Later, the censors bleeped out Joy when she said that voters remember when Trump used an expletive to describe the countries from which many immigrants are coming to America. "You can bleep that," she said into the camera after using the foul word previously employed by the president.
Kelly Clarkson on Adam Levine's "shocking" exit from "The Voice"
During an interview with "Extra!" that hit the Internet on May 28, Kelly Clarkson described Adam Levine's decision to leave "The Voice" as "kind of a shocking thing." She understands why he ultimately made the call, though: "He's been doing it for eight years — that's a long time. He's got a couple kids. Still has a career. Still touring. It's a very rigorous schedule fitting everything in," explained the former "American Idol" champ, who found out about the news "the night before everybody else found out" while texting with the Maroon 5 frontman and their colleagues. "It'll be weird going to work," added Kelly. "'Where's Adam?' But I totally get how busy it is trying to fit everything in plus having a family."
MTV scraps Jason Mitchell's Movie & TV Awards nomination in light of alleged misconduct
Variety reported on May 29 that MTV has rescinded Jason Mitchell's MTV Movie & TV Award nomination for best performance on a show for his work on the Showtime drama "The Chi," from which he was recently fired over allegations of inappropriate behavior. "In light of recent developments, we have removed Jason Mitchell as a nominee," said an MTV spokesperson. MTV will not be adding a new nominee to the category for the June 17 award show. The other nominees in the category, which is not gender-specific, are Emilia Clarke ("Game of Thrones"), Elisabeth Moss ("The Handmaid's Tale"), Gina Rodriguez ("Jane the Virgin") and Kiernan Shipka ("Chilling Adventures of Sabrina").
