Did You Hear...? Kendall Jenner and Pepsi fail, Don Rickles dies and more in the week in entertainment

Pepsi's protest-themed "Live for Now" commercial with Kendall Jenner was a big-time fail.

April 8, 2017 12 PM PT

A soda commercial turned into a train wreck, the insult comic known as “Mr. Warmth” passed away, a pop star alleged a decade of domestic abuse, the man who sang “Mandy” went public with his sexuality and a Hollywood icon learned she’d accidentally been lying about her age for most of her life. Here’s all that news and more from the past week in entertainment.

Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi ad goes all sorts of wrong

The phrase "tone deaf" had a moment this week as a Pepsi commercial starring Kendall Jenner left a slack-jawed public asking, “What were they thinking?”

The commercial featured fashion model Jenner walking out on a photo shoot to join a strategically diverse — and particularly attractive — demonstration rife with imagery evocative of Black Lives Matter and other protests. Jenner calms the very attractive unrest by offering carbonated aspartame water to police who look suspiciously like models. At first, PepsiCo defended the spot. The next day it yanked the commercial and said it was very, very sorry.

Late-night TV, of course, had a field day with it all.

ANALYSIS: Cringe-worthy Pepsi ad uses Kendall Jenner, protests and police to sell soda

Don Rickles dies at 90: Get outta here, ya hockey puck!

Rickles, a man perhaps best eulogized in a series of one-liners and zingers, died of kidney failure Thursday at age 90. An insult comic who got away with murder on stage because he was always so murderously funny, he was acknowledged by fans and peers, sometimes one and the same, as an irreplaceable talent and a genuinely sweet guy. Jimmy Kimmel was profoundly sad as he paid tribute to Rickles, saying, “I know it sounds crazy to say he was too young, but he was.”

APPRECIATION: Don Rickles showed the folly of fearing differences

Scary domestic-violence allegations from Mel B

Mel B, a.k.a. Melanie Brown, a.k.a. Scary Spice, was awarded a temporary domestic-violence restraining order against her estranged husband after alleging nearly a decade of abuse. She accused him of punching her, choking her, knocking up the nanny, making her do threesomes, messing with her money, and threatening to release sex tapes. Oh, yeah, she also said that when they got married, she had no idea he wasn’t Harry Belafonte’s son.

Stephen Belafonte, a.k.a. Stephen Stansbury, said she was lying. Expect one heck of a divorce battle.

Doris Day turns 95 the hard way: She thought she was 93

After her birth certificate was unearthed, “Pillow Talk” actress Doris Day hit the fast-forward button on her life: Turned out she’s two years older than she (and the rest of the world) thought she was. "I've always said that age is just a number and I have never paid much attention to birthdays,” Day told the Associated Press, “but it's great to finally know how old I really am!"

Barry Manilow comes out as gay, surprises almost nobody

Garry Kief, left, and Barry Manilow in 2016. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

In case the leaked news about his off-the-radar 2014 wedding to manager Garry Kief wasn’t a big enough clue back in 2015, Barry Manilow, 73, finally went on the record this week as a gay man. It’s the first time the very private entertainer, who’s been with Kief for nearly 40 years, has talked about his sexuality. He worried he’d be “disappointing” his fans with that revelation.

The Oscars get out of the TV business, MTV gets into it

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a new rule that would have kept “O.J.: Made in America” from winning its documentary feature Oscar this year. The gist of it: "multipart or limited series are deemed not eligible for awards consideration." Boom.

The academy’s move comes as MTV announced nominees this week for the first-ever MTV Movie & TV Awards, formerly known only as the MTV Movie Awards.

Olivia Munn, Aaron Rodgers. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Domestic Goods — and Bads: John Cena got down on one knee in the WrestleMania 33 ring and offered fellow WWE star Nikki Bella an engagement ring. She accepted his proposal. … We also learned that Martin Lawrence, who’s been married twice before, proposed to Roberta Moradfar with a huge, personalized diamond ring. Will this time be the charm? … Looks like Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers and actress Olivia Munn have called it quits after nearly three years of dating. A source told E! News that she — not the quarterback — made the call to end it.

Trumped Up: Comedy Central announced the arrival of “The President Show,” featuring Donald J. Trump impersonator Anthony Atamanuik as the host of a weekly late-night show broadcasting from the Oval Office. . … Scarlett Johansson was “disappointed” with Ivanka Trump, whom she called “cowardly” after the first daughter said in a TV interview that over time “most people actually won’t know” about the influence she’s had on her dad’s administration. … “Grey’s Anatomy” showrunner Shonda Rhimes joined the national board of Planned Parenthood.