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Did You Hear ...? Kanye fights back, Bieber gets punctuation-happy and more from the week in entertainment

Justin Bieber offered fans a frenetic "explanation" via Instagram for his abrupt tour cancellation.
Justin Bieber offered fans a frenetic “explanation” via Instagram for his abrupt tour cancellation.
(Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)
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A notoriously moody pop superstar works on becoming a man, a moody hip-hop superstar launches a pretty hefty lawsuit (to say the least), a social media protest picks up steam. Here’s all that news and more from this week in entertainment.

Justin Bieber explains why he canceled the ‘Purpose’ tour

In a first-step move toward becoming the man he wants to be (in addition to the eventual husband and father he wants to be), Justin Bieber penned an erratic and ill-punctuated Instagram post “explaining” the motives behind his sudden tour cancellation. This, following a confusing week of headlines for the “Purpose” singer, who struck a paparazzo with his car in the midst of tour cancellation chaos — pardon, accidentally struck a paparazzo with his car, according to police. Ahem. In the Instagram post, Bieber expressed love and gratefulness to his fans, complete with exclamation points and a generally nonsensical use of caps lock. But, as the pop star wrote himself, “there’s something special about imperfections!!”

Kanye West takes on his insurance company with a lawsuit for $10 million

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Remember last November? When Kanye West cropped short the Saint Pablo tour before promptly checking himself into a hospital? Per their contract, West’s insurance company, Lloyd’s of London, was allegedly to compensate the hip-hop star for those 21 lost performances. Alas, the company never cut the check, so West is fuming — and filing a $10-million lawsuit against Lloyd’s and its affiliated syndicates.

J.K. Rowling says ‘sorry’ for spreading fake news about Trump

J.K. Rowling apologized for her viral Trump-roast tweets — but, of course, she directed her redress to third-party collateral damage in lieu of Mr. T himself (a.k.a. Rowling’s own personal Lord Voldemort). Quick recap of the latest installment of Rowling vs. Trump: Last weekend, Rowling gleaned from a viral White House video that the president had willfully ignored a wheelchair-ridden, 3-year-old boy. So, Rowling did what Rowling does best when she has something to say, especially when that something is Trump-related: She penned a scathing, supremely articulated Twitter rant. Only problem? The video was doctored. Rowling admitted her “oops” to the boy’s family, but no sign of peace offering yet in Trump’s direction.

Gloria Estefan and LL Cool J mark a series of firsts for the Kennedy Center Honors

Slowly but surely, the Kennedy Center Honors are branching out. Ahead of its annual gala, the esteemed performing arts organization announced this year’s selective slate (just five!) of honorees. They include Gloria Estefan and LL Cool J, the first Cuban American singer-songwriter and first hip-hop artist, respectively, to earn the prestigious distinction. Also receiving honors: actress, dancer and choreographer extraordinaire Carmen de Lavallade; legendary TV mogul Norman Lear; and music icon Lionel Richie.

#NoConfederate is just getting started

HBO’s upcoming alternate-reality slavery drama has prompted controversy ever since its introduction weeks back. On Sunday, angry Twitter users organized a social media protest targeting “Confederate” by way of “Game of Thrones” (both shows are created by the same white male team). The protest, which asked “GoT” viewers to tweet #NoConfederate during the Sunday night showing, has no plans to halt its progress. You can expect to see them all over HBO’s Twitter feed again this weekend.

Summer Phoenix and Casey Affleck have separated after 10 years of marriage.
(Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for AFI)

Domestic Goods — and Bads: The notorious post-Oscars divorce curse nabbed Casey Affleck and Summer Phoenix. ... Blake Lively’s “perfect” image is a great, big, sexist load of nonsense. … Macaulay Culkin and goddaughter Paris Jackson got matching ink. … Hip-hop trailblazer Kidd Creole was arrested and charged in the stabbing of a homeless man.

R.I.P.: Sam Shepard, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and all-around show biz renaissance man, died at 73. … Judith Jones, the powerhouse literary editor who gave the English-speaking world Anne Frank’s diary and Julia Child’s cookbook, died at 93. … Robert Hardy, the British actor best known for playing Cornelius Fudge in the “Harry Potter” franchise, died at 91.

New trailers:

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Bonus links: The West End’s “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is headed for Broadway, and its star actors are going with it. … Two Florida art school students made an animated short about a same-gender crush for their senior thesis project — and almost 15 million people (and counting) fell madly in love. … With the dates officially locked down for her first solo tour in four years it looks like Kesha is gearing up for one heck of a comeback. Dr. Luke had better be praying.

Did You Hear …? runs Saturday in Entertainment at latimes.com.

emilymae.czachor@latimes.com

@emczachor

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