Lil Nas X, Mark Hoppus & More Artists Gear Up to Play New 'Animal Crossing' Game While Social Distancing

K.J. Yossman As BBC Studios gears up for its annual showcase, where it introduces its upcoming hot projects to international buyers, U.K.-based Jonathan Blyth, BBC Studios’ director of comedy, and Kelly Miller, BBC Studios’ Los Angeles-based senior VP of scripted strategy, sat down with Variety to discuss what’s on their comedy slate, working with streamers and the biggest challenges they’re currently facing.What do you look for in a comedy?Kelly Miller (KM): It’s all about authentic storytelling, that lived-in experience, a talent who has something to say. Those are the comedies and the shows that are most resonant with audiences around the world, but particularly here in the U.S.Jonathan Blyth (JB): Talent is very much at the heart — front and centre.

The Tinder Swindler subject Shimon Hayut has said the women in the Netflix documentary “weren’t conned”.Hayut, who also went by the alias Simon Leviev in the recent film, recently spoke to Inside Edition about the allegations levelled against him by several women who met him on Tinder.The first part of the interview aired yesterday (February 21) with a second part due to be released today (February 22), also featuring Hayut’s girlfriend Kate Konlin.“I’m not this monster,” Hayut said of the claims of The Tinder Swindler. “I was just a single guy that wanted to meet some girls on Tinder.”The Netflix documentary alleges that Hayut convinced women he was the son and heir of diamond mogul Lev Leviev, before reportedly conning them out of millions of dollars.“They weren’t conned and they weren’t threatened,” Hayut said of the women featured in the doc, and said of the claims he was the son of Leviev: “No I am not, and I never presented myself [as such].”He went on to say he didn’t “feel bad” for the women who accused him as the allegatiosn were false, and said he is “a legit businessman” in terms of justifying his current lavish lifestyle.Hayut added: “I want to clear my name, I want to say to the world, this is not true.”Victims Cecilie Fjellhøy, Ayleen Koeleman and Pernilla Sjoholm recently set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to repay their debts after being conned.“You’re probably here because you’ve heard about our story, and we appreciate you taking the time to search and find this page,” they wrote.“The past few days have been a whirlwind, and we three (Ayleen, Pernilla and Cecilie) have been completely shocked and floored by the flood of compassion and support from everyone.

Pale Waves have announced new dates for their shows in Dublin and Belfast.

Prominent Australian TV Executive and philanthropist Neil Balnaves has died aged 77 in a boating accident, his foundation has said.

America’s Got Talent judges have paid tribute to series star Jane Marczewski, who died on Sunday 19 February after being diagnosed with cancer. She was 31.

The Mysterious Girl singer celebrated Valentine's with wife Emily last week. Writing in his New magazine column Peter said : "Valentine’s for us is all about time together, we got each other a few little bits but the most special for me was the card Emily got me. " Peter added: "As part of this beautiful card, was hidden 12 things you love about your partner and she hid each one in different locations, and I had to find them.

Coronation Street star Kimberly Hart-Simpson has recently revealed she is returning to the soap.

A lad pointed a BB gun at a college student who had a ‘silly’ argument with his girlfriend before firing at him.

Rio Ferdinand has praised Manchester United starlet Anthony Elanga for seizing the initiative during his early days with the first-team squad.

Chris Sutton believes Manchester City could regret signing Jack Grealish rather than Harry Kane last summer by the end of the season.

The much awaited all-British heavyweight championship fight between Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte has now been confirmed with Whyte signing his contract.

Oti Mabuse has announced she is leaving Strictly Come Dancing after seven years.

Ex-England and Man United footballer David Beckham has splashed out on a lavish £5m super yacht, which he helped design! The multi-millionaire, 46, has enjoyed many sea-bound adventures with music legend Sir Elton John - so it’s no surprise he’s coughed up the cash to treat Victoria and the kids. It’s a whopping 100ft vessel which sources told the Sun: “It’s pretty plush by anyone’s standards.

Voluminous, extravagant hairstyles are always on the cards for RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants, but Michelle Keegan is giving our Drag Race UK Versus The World queens a run for their money with her guest judge look – well, if running were possible in 8-inch heels. The actress transformed her lengths with the help of hairspray and secrets (likely in the form of backcombing and extensions) to get ready for her one-off panel appearance.The full episode is yet to air, but we have been treated to an advance teaser where Michelle is shown looking nothing short of fierce with a voluminous updo.

Kate Garraway has given an update on her husband Derek Draper’s health while revealing she’s managed to sleep for the first time in two years after taking a break from caring for her ill husband. Derek, 54, contracted Covid-19 in April 2020 and went on to spend over a year in hospital battling the virus. Since leaving hospital, Derek has needed 24 hour care from home, a large majority of which has been done by devoted wife, Kate, also 54.

Eamonn Holmes has rushed to the defence of Rylan Clark after an online troll accused the former X Factor star of faking illness. Rylan sparked concern last week after sharing a snap of himself in hospital, and has since gave a health update to his fans and said he was “resting”. His most recent trip to hospital came after he received medical attention last month following his split from husband Dan Neal last year.

Holly Willoughby made a super stylish return to ITV's This Morning as she and co-host Phillip Schofield returned from their week off from the show. Starting the week off by embracing a Spring-inspired look the mum-of-three stunning in a short floral mini dress from Whistles.

Good Morning Britain viewers were taken aback as Richard Madeley got stuck straight in to an interview with John Barrowman.

Travis Barker has shared news of a new Blink-182 song and has updated fans on the status of the band’s forthcoming EP.Speaking in a new interview, Barker revealed that he hopes the band’s long-awaited EP, which Mark Hoppus said last year would feature Lil Uzi Vert and Pharrell Williams, will “be out by the end of summer.”He also said the band would be releasing a new song called ‘Quarantine’ ahead of the EP’s release. “There’s a song called ‘Quarantine’ that’s gonna come out really, really soon,” he told MTV. “It’ll be a Blink favourite. It’ll be like all our fan favourites.

"Upcoming recording is happening as we speak"

The band's original singer and guitarist quit in 2015

The bassist is ready to argue online

Blink-182 has just unveiled a new video for the band’s single “Happy Days”, themed to self-quarantining in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bassist is a big fan of the popular Nintendo Switch video game

"Having that sense of purpose and job that you still have to do regardless of what's going on in the outside world is kind of grounding"

"This whole thing is scary and unknown"

Mark Hoppus isn't taking any chances with his family's health during the coronavirus scare.On Sunday (March 15), the Blink-182 co-founder tweeted that he and his family are taking extra precautions to stay healthy by self-quarantining inside their home."My family and I are hunkered down in our house for the next week," Hoppus tweeted. "We are self-quarantining and canceled all people coming to the house, all meetings and events.

The Last Of Us Part II has a fully functioning guitar within the game and Blink-182‘s bassist Mark Hoppus has used it to cover the bands popular song ‘Dammit’.Hoppus has been streaming the game via Twitch and came across one of the numerous guitars throughout the game and use the PS4‘s touch pad to strum along. The tuning can be changed and a variety of chords can be performed.