Irish actress Saoirse Ronan has reportedly been cast as Linda McCartney in Sam Mendes’ The Beatles – A Four Film Cinematic Event. 

According to Deadline, multiple sources have stated that Ronan — famed for her performances in Ladybird and Little Women — will play the first wife of The Beatles’ Paul McCartney in the upcoming series of biopics. Representatives for distributors Sony Pictures are yet to make an official comment.

As announced earlier this year, each of the Mendes-directed Beatles films will tell the story of a different member of the band. Ronan will feature prominently in the installment centered on McCartney alongside Paul Mescal as the singer, while it is currently unknown to what extent she might appear in the other three.

Ronan has received four Oscar nominations across an illustrious career and appeared in addiction-recovery drama The Outrun last year. More recently, she led the dark comedy Bad Apples, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last month.

The 31-year-old joins a cast that includes Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon. With scripts written by Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan and Jack Thorne, the films are expected to arrive in spring 2028, though official details currently remain scant.

Linda and Paul McCartney met in 1967 and they were married until her death from cancer in 1998. She was a photographer, musician and animal rights activist who founded a vegetarian food company. She also performed alongside Paul as part of his post-Beatles band, Wings.

The Beatles – A Four Film Cinematic Event, meanwhile, marks the first time that The Beatles and Apple Corps Ltd. have authorised the use of the band members’ life stories and music in scripted films.

In February, following a SAG Award win for her breakout role in Shōgun, Anna Sawai dismissed rumors that she had been cast as Yoko Ono for the film series. “I think a rumor is just a rumor,” the actress said, adding that she was “still trying to figure out what I want to do, so I’m reading a lot of scripts.”

Independent live entertainment brand Breakaway is expanding its leadership team with two new partners: Cultural entrepreneur Shaun Neff and entertainment executive Nick Gross, who have officially joined Breakaway’s ownership group, it was announced Wednesday (Oct. 8). It’s a move that underscores the company’s ambition to scale beyond festivals into music, media and lifestyle ventures.

The announcement follows a milestone year for Breakaway, which in 2025 staged its largest festival season yet: With events across 12 U.S. cities, it became the nation’s largest multi-city touring festival. Earlier this year, the company launched Breakaway Projects, a record label and artist management arm dedicated to nurturing emerging talent aligned with the brand’s creative DNA.

“Bringing Shaun and Nick into the Breakaway family is like adding rocket fuel to everything we’ve been building,” said Adam Lynn, Breakaway’s co-founder and CEO, in a statement. “They understand Breakaway’s broader strategic vision — evolving beyond live events by developing new formats and engaging audiences across multiple platforms. As Breakaway evolves, we’re building a team that reflects that direction.”

Breakaway chief revenue officer William Van Orsdel added, “Breakaway isn’t just a festival anymore — it’s a movement. We’re proud of the culture we’re building and even more proud of the ownership group we’ve assembled to take us to the next level.”

Neff and Gross bring a blend of creative entrepreneurship and industry experience that mirrors Breakaway’s cross-platform ambitions.

Neff, best known as the founder of Neff Headwear, built his reputation through collaborations with icons like Snoop Dogg, Kevin Durant and Wiz Khalifa before co-founding Beach House Group, the brand incubator behind celebrity ventureslike Moon Oral Care with Kendall Jenner, Pattern with Tracee Ellis Ross, BÉIS with Shay Mitchell and Florence by Mills with Millie Bobby Brown. He was also part-owner of Sun Bum, which was acquired by SC Johnson in 2019, and now sits in the ownership groups of both X Games and Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC).

“Breakaway has already built something powerful — a national platform that resonates with Gen Z culture,” said Neff. “Our goal now is to scale that foundation intentionally, and expand in a way that deepens cultural relevance and community connection.”

For his part, Gross — through his Gross Labs umbrella — operates Big Noise, the record label he co-founded with producer John Feldmann; Find Your Grind, an edtech and career discovery platform for K-12 students; and Noise Nest Studios, his content and recording facility in Los Angeles. Gross’ portfolio spans investments across sports, entertainment and lifestyle ventures, including Tiger Woods’ TGL Golf League, X Games and Oklahoma City’s professional soccer franchise. As a musician himself, Gross has toured globally with Avril Lavigne and Machine Gun Kelly.

“The mission is clear: amplify artists, empower fans, and break the mold,” Gross said in a statement. “That’s what drew me to Breakaway.”

Lynn added that expanding ownership to include creative entrepreneurs like Neff and Gross is a deliberate move to strengthen Breakaway’s foundation for the future. “We’re not just building festivals,” he said. “We’re building a brand that can live across every medium — from stages to screens to the products people use every day.”

Sean “Diddy” Combs has gotten a judge’s approval to participate in the federal prison system’s in-house drug abuse rehab program while serving his sentence for prostitution crimes.

Judge Arun Subramanian said in a Wednesday (Oct. 8) order that Combs qualifies for the Bureau of Prisons’ Residential Drug Abuse Program, known as RDAP. Combs, who has been in a pretrial jail facility since his arrest last year, was sentenced last week to another three years in prison for orchestrating drug-fueled sex marathons known as “freak-offs” between his girlfriends and male escorts.

While the rapper has vehemently denied that his freak-offs violated federal law, his lawyers conceded during trial that he “obviously has a drug problem.” Combs’ team wrote in a recent letter to the court that the nine-month treatment program would help him “address drug abuse issues,” and prosecutors took no position on the matter.

Combs has not yet been assigned a prison to serve the rest of his time. His lawyers have requested that he be sent to Fort Dix in New Jersey, though RDAP is offered at more than 50 federal prison complexes nationwide.

For some inmates, RDAP carries the enticing perk that successful graduates can shave up to a year off their prison sentences. But there’s a catch: only “nonviolent offenders” are eligible for this type of early release, and it’s not clear that Combs will meet that standard.

Prosecutors say Combs relied on “unchecked violence,” including a now-infamous video of him beating Cassie Ventura at a hotel, to force women to participate in the freak-offs. Judge Subramanian seemed to agree at Combs’ sentencing hearing, saying that the rapper’s prostitution activity amounted to “subjugation.”

Combs’ lawyers, meanwhile, have insisted that the jury rejected this theory of violence when they acquitted him of more serious racketeering and sex-trafficking charges. The defense position is that in convicting Combs of interstate prostitution only, jurors determined that the freak-offs were fully consensual sexual encounters.

The true meaning of Combs’ split verdict is a thorny legal question. Experts tell Billboard that it’s up for debate how much of the violence cited by prosecutors during the trial should be deemed part of his prostitution conviction. This question will likely be weighed by a higher court during Combs’ upcoming appeal, as well as by the Bureau of Prisons in deciding whether he qualifies for early release under RDAP.

Combs’ team is now preparing to file his much-anticipated appeal. Meanwhile, they’re also lobbying for a pardon from President Donald Trump, who confirmed on Monday (Oct. 6) that the rapper he called “Puff Daddy” has asked for clemency.

Clipse made history when they became the first rappers to perform at the Vatican on Sept. 13 for the Grace for the World concert, which was produced by the duo’s close friend and longtime collaborator Pharrell.

The Thornton brothers brought Let God Sort Em Out to the holy ground for a poignant performance of Clipse’s album opener “The Birds Don’t Sing,” which is an emotional tribute to their late parents.

Pusha T and Malice feel they carry a responsibility to bring hip-hop to places it hasn’t been before while continuing to elevate the genre.

“It was definitely a moment for us,” Malice told VIBE. “I think we definitely broke ground. It’s overdue and past time that people understand that hip-hop belongs everywhere. It’s expression, it’s communication, it teaches the world about our culture. It’s an art form that’s celebrated in every walk of life. It’s nothing that should be surprising — we should be celebrated everywhere.”

While King Push reflected on the genre’s fight for exposure and recognition, adding: “I’ve been here for a long time with hip-hop, and I remember it not being seen as an art, and it not being televised. And like you said, now being at the Vatican — we do this so everyone can see how far it can go.”

Let God Sort Em Out arrived in July, and serves as the first Clipse album since 2009. The project debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, and the duo also took it back to their childhood home in Virginia while paying homage to their parents for the “Birds Don’t Sing” visual, which was released last week.

Speaking to Billboard at the top of October, Pusha T explained how he made it a mission to break the glass ceiling when it comes to ageism in rap and hip-hop being a “young man’s game” with the Clipse reuniting this year.

“I’ve always looked at rap and other genres, rock specifically, and I’ve never liked how rap always had the age ceiling where everyone else didn’t,” he said. “I’ve personally always wanted to make it my business to crack that ceiling, and I think the Clipse album 1,000 percent [did it].”

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Taylor Swift is making her way around the late-night circuit in support of her new album, The Life of a Showgirl. Her next stop? Late Night With Seth Meyers.

The “Elizabeth Taylor” singer sat down for an interview with Jimmy Fallon on Oct. 6, with the show airing at 11:35 p.m. on NBC. The chart-topper spoke to Fallon about her internet-breaking engagement to Travis Kelce and how she went about creating her new album. Later on in the show, the singer played a game likened to two truths and a lie, where Fallon asked if she’d turned down playing the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show because the NFL wouldn’t allow her to own the performance footage. “It has nothing to do with Travis. He would love for me to do it. I’m just too locked in,” said Swift in regards to the now-debunked rumor.

Swift revealed that she and Roc Nation producer and rap icon Jay Z have had talks about her headlining the coveted halftime show in the past. “Our teams are really close. They sometimes will call and say, ‘How does she feel about [the Super Bowl]?’ And that’s not like an official offer or like a conference room conversation. Just ‘Our teams are really close, how does she feel about it in general?’” While it’s not clear if Swift will ever step up to the plate, or turf, for the halftime show, we find it oddly comforting that she’s at least considered the opportunity.

Swift will then catch up with Meyers on Oct. 8 at 12:35 a.m., also on NBC. Prior to chatting with NBC’s late-night hosts, Swift stopped by The Graham Norton Show to talk about the album and show off her shiny new engagement ring.

The 12-track album is all that everyone is chatting about currently, and the proof is in its massive reach. On its first day of release on Oct. 3, the album sold a whopping 2.7 million copies in traditional album sales — that’s both physical and digital purchases — across all versions of the album, according to initial reports to Luminate. All 14 of Swift’s full-length studio albums and re-recorded projects from 2008’s Fearless (her second album) through 2024’s The Tortured Poets Department have debuted at No. 1.

You can watch her upcoming apperance on Late Night With Seth Meyers on NBC, but if you don’t have cable, you can also watch the Swift’s talk show appearances on a live TV streaming service like DirecTV. DirecTV’s current packages include a live NBC feed, so you can use it to watch Swift without cable. Even better: DirecTV offers a five-day free trial that you can use to stream Swift’s late-night appearances online free.

You can also watch Swift’s Late Night appearances via Peacock, the official NBCUniversal streaming service. Peacock lets you watch the talk show interviews live and on-demand afterwards.

A basic subscription to the service will run you $7.99 a month; however, the premium plan, for $10.99 a month, is the way to go if you’re looking to watch Swift talk all things The Life of a Showgirl live on TV (the basic plan also lets you stream on-demand content after their live airdate). Peacock’s premium plus membership is $16.99 a month, which lets you watch without any ads.

The Life of a Showgirl is Swift’s 12th studio album, and was released through Republic Records. The album was created during Swift’s life on the road during her Eras Tour. The album features 12 tracks, including “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Father Figure,” “Honey,” “Wi$h Li$t” and “Ruin the Friendship.” Swift announced her new album during an appearance on fiancé Travis Kelce’s podcast, New Heights.

Watch Taylor Swift on ‘The Tonight Show’ Here