Keegan-Michael Key (left) and Jordan Peele in Key & PeeleComedy Central
TAKING A PASS
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele turned down a personal request from U.S. President Barack Obama to shoot a sketch with them to promote Obamacare.
In the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, the comedy duo said they were forced to refuse Obama's request to film the comedy short in support of the Affordable Care Act because they were midway through shooting their Comedy Central series Key & Peele.
"We had to turn him down," said Peele.
"We couldn't help him out on that one particular time," said Peele. "But this is a country where we technically have status over our elected officials. So you gotta remember, Obama works for us."
Source: Entertainment Weekly
X MARKS THE SPOT
The X Factor reigns supreme in the U.K. Twitterverse. A new study from research firm Kanta Media has concluded that the talent contest fronted by former American Idol judge Simon Cowell is currently the most tweeted-about program on British television. The year-long study showed that The X Factor generated 9.4 million tweets over the past year. Coming in a distant second was Celebrity Big Brother with 5.3 million tweets followed by Britain's Got Talent (on which Cowel also adjudicates) with 3.1 million tweets.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
SECRET LIFE
Jeremy Renner has revealed that he's married and has a baby daughter. The 43-year-old actor confirmed his secret marriage over a year ago to model-actress Sonni Pacheco at the premiere of his new film Kill the Messenger. Why so quiet? "Privacy issues are important because I want her to go about her day without being bothered," said Renner. The Avengers star also revealed that he's the doting dad to a 17-month-old daughter named Ava. "I'm very miserable when I don't see her," said Renner. "I really love being a father."
Source: People
BACKING OUT
A U.S. insurance company has pulled its TV commercials starring former Saturday Night Live regular Rob Schneider in response to his anti-vaccination stance. State Farm Insurance has yanked the comedic spots after learning the actor had lobbied against a proposed bill requiring parents to meet with doctors before receiving exemptions from mandatory childhood vaccinations. Schneider responded to the ads being pulled on Wednesday by tweeting, "If the Freedom of Speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be lead, like sheep to the slaughter – George Washington."
Source: E! News
LOWE POINT
Get ready to see Rob Lowe like you've never seen him before. The rakish actor undergoes a drastic transformation in a new set of TV commercials for the U.S. broadcast provider DirecTV. In the spots, the 50-year-old Parks & Recreation star assumes two roles: The first shows him as a DirecTV customer: handsome, well-dressed and residing in a well-appointed home; Lowe is next seen as a balding, paunchy figure sitting in a rundown living room and saying, "I'm far less attractive Rob Lowe and I have cable." The spot closes with handsome Lowe standing behind his déclassé self and saying, "Don't be like this me."
Source: Adweek
MAN'S WORLD
Women are still hugely underrepresented in Hollywood films, according to a new study. New research from USC Annenberg analyzed the quantity and quality of female roles in 120 Hollywood movies between 2010 and 2013. Researchers concluded that moviegoers in the combined U.S./U.K. market saw over three times as many men as women onscreen, with female comprising a mere 23.6 per cent of nearly 6000 speaking roles. The study also revealed that fewer than one in four of the films featured a female lead or co-lead.
Source: Entertainment Weekly