Macklemore on Ellen DeGeneres

Among them "skeet blanket," "dookie" and "honky."

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amy poehler harvard

Every year, big-name universities draw some big-name celebrities to deliver their commencement speeches. Here are some of our favorites from recent years.

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Bret McKenzie

The general consensus is that the 84th annual Academy Awards were a giant mushroom cloud of boring, unfunny failure, dropped from the broken-down Enola Gay that is Billy Crystal. You know it's going to be bad when there's blackface in the first five minutes. In a Midnight In Paris send-up. With Justin Bieber. The song parodies were painful. (If creepy middle-aged dude is the vibe the Oscars want in a host, let's make it someone likeable next year: Jeff Goldblum for Oscars host!)

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Zac and Taylor

● Zac Efron and Taylor Swift are probably not an item but their "Pumped Up Kicks" cover on Ellen today was so charming that we wish they were. [Vulture]

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Miss Piggy

● Fox Business News has challenged the Muppets to a debate. "Froggy, Miss Piggy, if you wanna debate this any time, I'm all for it," the network's Eric Bolling offered on his show yesterday. He might want to think twice before engaging so closely with the enemy. [Huff Post]

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● Kevin Smith told Joy Behar that when he was kicked off his Southwest flight for being too fat, he "felt at that moment 'I'll lose the weight, but I'm not putting on thinner clothes,'" a sentiment that obviously didn't make his infamous Tweet-fit. [PopEater] ● After a year of hits, Grammy nods, and high paying commercial gigs, Eminem is slotted alongside Muse and Foo Fighters to headline this year's Lollapalooza. [Chicago Tribune] ● On today's show, Ellen Degeneres will preview what Lady Gaga's forthcoming single "Born This Way" might sound like if she was born less like Lady Gaga and more like James Blunt and Justin Bieber. [Ellen]

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So yesterday's big news was that California’s Proposition 8—the thing that made gay marriage illegal—has been overturned. As with all major political events, it's enlightening—or at least entertaining—to see what celebs have to say about the hot-button issue, so I spent some time trolling Twitter for reactions. Unfortunately, most celebs were too busy self-promoting or making inscrutable inside jokes to weigh in on this monumental occasion, but here’s the best of what I found:

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American Idol is still a thing? Well, then! As the current season of Idol--allegedly Cowell's last--flails on, it's important that we, as people who lack anything meaningful to do on weeknights, comb each overlong episode for all subtext of acrimony between Cowell and new Idol guest DeGeneres we can find. Because they can't stand each other! And not in that playful big bro-hates-on-lil' sis way that Simon and Paula couldn't stand each other. According to insiders, from DeGeneres' first day, tensions were high, horns were locked and any number of other clichés you can think of to describe two people clashing. Yes, Howard Stern can't come soon enough to relieve Cowell of what has become a Brian Dunkleman-like existence as a thorn in Idol's side.

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Music star Adam Lambert poses for the most recent cover of Out, along with four other personalities, as part of the Gay 100, the magazine’s annual celebration of icons, activists and mouthpieces. But Lambert’s inclusion has been marred by his record label and management, who, according to editor Aaron Hicklin, insisted that the American Idol runner-up not look “too gay.” Hicklin writes in an open letter to Lambert, “We’re curious whether you know that we made cover offers for you before American Idol was even halfway through its run. Apparently, Out was too gay, even for you. There was the issue of what it would do to your record sales, we were told. Imagine! A gay musician on the cover of a gay magazine. What might the parents think! It’s only because this cover is a group shot that includes a straight woman [Cyndi Lauper] that your team would allow you to be photographed at all.” It’s all eerily reminiscent of 1997, when Ellen DeGeneres came out on her eponymous sitcom.

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