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Liza Minnelli Is Headed to the ‘Drag Race’ Season 17 Finale

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For 17 seasons, RuPaul’s Drag Race has served as a launch pad for new pop icons. Now, the show is honoring its inspirations by recognizing EGOT winner Liza Minnelli as a cultural icon who paved the way for entertainers like RuPaul.

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03/31/2025

On Tuesday (April 1), Drag Race announced that RuPaul will present Minnelli with the show’s “Giving Us Lifetime Achievement” award during the season 17 finale on Friday, April 18. Minnelli, who has long been heralded as both an ally for the LGBTQ+ community and a gay icon, will appear on-stage during the finale to receive the award.

Minnelli — who is one of the producers of the off-Broadway hit Drag: The Musical, an original play starring several Drag Race alumni — will be the third recipient of the award, which has been given out at every season finale of the show since season 15. The first-ever award was given to fashion designer Bob Mackie (who served as the very first guest judge on Drag Race), while Cassandra Peterson (better known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark) received the second iteration of the honor in last year’s finale.

This won’t be the first time that Drag Race has paid homage to Liza with a Z. During the show’s iconic Snatch Game challenge in season 9, Alexis Michelle delivered a hilarious impression of Minnelli that ended up winning the challenge — Billboard even ranked Michelle’s performance at No. 11 on our list of the best musical impersonations in the challenge’s format.

Meanwhile, season 17 of RuPaul’s Drag Race is currently ranked as the No. 1 show on cable among 18 to 34-year-olds, according to a press release from Paramount. Five queens — Jewels Sparkles, Lexi Love, Onya Nurve, Sam Star and Suzie Toot — remain in the competition, with two more episodes to go before the grand finale.

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Jelly Roll Brings Grit & Heart to In-Ring Debut at WWE SummerSlam 2025

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Jelly Roll made his WWE in-ring debut this weekend, and teamed up with Randy Orton to battle Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul at SummerSlam 2025. Jelly didn’t disappoint, as the brute country force rattled McIntyre and Paul with a series of slams and elbow drops, before ultimately falling short in his Saturday night (Aug. 2) WWE match.

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Ahead of the match, Jelly introduced tag partner Orton and performed his entrance theme song, “Voices,” electrifying the MetLife Stadium crowd in East Rutherford, N.J.

Kicking off the match against Paul, Jelly impressed early. Not only did he deliver some offense, including an impressive shoulder tackle on Paul, but he absorbed a flurry of attacks. The defining moment came when Paul sent Jelly crashing through the announcer’s table with a high-flying splash. Despite the setback, a hobbled Jelly Roll delivered a clinical performance: first chokeslamming Paul before issuing a punishing bodyslam. But Paul had the last laugh, connecting with a frog splash and scoring the 1-2-3.

Jelly, a lifelong wrestling fan, trained rigorously at WWE’s Performance Center ahead of his match, which contributed to his 230-pound weight loss.

“This is about belief — believing in myself — and wanting to selfishly be a part of a beautiful moment,” Jelly said earlier this week in an interview with WWE’s Jackie Redmond. “I love this business. I just wanna bring value. I’m not here to take nothing away. I’m not here to take nobody’s spot. I want to bring value. I think this is one of the greatest ages of storytelling I’ve seen in wrestling this decade.”

See clips of Jelly’s SummerSlam in-ring debut below.

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Jerry Garcia Has Childhood Street Named for Him in San Francisco

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A few hundred people gathered Friday (Aug. 1) to name a tiny San Francisco street after legendary Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia on what would have been his 83rd birthday, and as part of a citywide celebration to mark the band’s 60th anniversary.

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Harrington Street, which is one block long, will also be called “Jerry Garcia Street.” Garcia died in 1995, but the band’s popularity has only grown as younger generations discover the Dead’s improvisational music, which blended rock, blues, folk and other styles.

Garcia spent part of his childhood in a modest home in the city’s diverse Excelsior neighborhood. He lived with his grandparents after the death of his father, Jose Ramon “Joe” Garcia.

“I hope that you all get a chance to enjoy the music, dance, hug, smile,” said daughter Trixie Garcia, growing emotional during her brief remarks. “Cherish what’s valuable, what’s significant in life.”

Tens of thousands of fans are in San Francisco to commemorate the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary with concerts and other activities throughout the city.

The latest iteration of the band, Dead & Company, with original Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, play Golden Gate Park’s Polo Field for three days this weekend (beginning with Friday’s show), with an estimated 60,000 attendees expected each day.

Formed in 1965, the Grateful Dead played often and for free in their early years while living in a cheap Victorian home in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. The band later became a significant part of 1967’s Summer of Love, and the Grateful Dead has become synonymous with San Francisco and its bohemian counterculture.

On Friday, fans in rainbow tie-dye and Grateful Dead T-shirts whooped and cheered as the sign was unveiled. Nonfans with shopping bags and some using walking canes maneuvered around the crowd on what was for them just another foggy day in the working-class neighborhood.

Afterward, devotees peeled off to pose for photos in front of Garcia’s childhood home.

Jared Yankee, 23, got the crowd to join him in singing “Happy Birthday.” Yankee said he flew in from Rhode Island for the shows. He got into the music about a decade ago.

“It’s a human thing,” he said of his impromptu singing. “I figure everyone knows the words to ‘Happy Birthday.’”

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Fans Choose Mariah The Scientist & Kali Uchis’ ‘Is It a Crime’ as This Week’s Favorite New Music

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“Is It a Crime,” the new duet from Mariah The Scientist and Kali Uchis, tops this week’s fan-voted music poll.

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Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Aug. 1) on Billboard, choosing the pair’s fresh collaboration as their favorite new release of the past week.

“Is It a Crime” rose above a plethora of new releases — among them, songs from hitmakers like Demi Lovato, Chappell Roan, Reneé Rapp and more. Mariah and Kali’s collab track topped the poll by a landslide, bringing in more than 57% of the vote.

“Is It a Crime,” a slow jam that has the two artists singing about the return of a past love — and defending the relationship if anyone’s got anything to say about it — dropped on July 31, with spicy, jail-themed single art. (“very intentional, very grown woman,” Uchis commented of their shoot on Instagram.)

The chorus of the song says it all: “And so what? I fell, you fell in love a couple times/ Tell me, what’s it to ya? Tell me, is it a crime/ To fall, to fall in love, in love a couple times?/ Tell me, what’s it to ya? Tell me, is it a crime to fall?”

Among the new releases trailing behind “Is It a Crime” on this week’s poll are Demi Lovato’s “Fast,” coming in with 17% of the vote; Chappell Roan’s “The Subway,” with 16% of the vote, and Reneé Rapp’s “Bite Me,” with 2% of the vote.

See the final results of this week’s poll below.

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