BRIEF – ME! – ENTERTAINMENT NEWS BRIEFING
Entertainment Briefing, Catch up with this week’s top stories from the world of art, music, film and TV.
In music, singer R.Kelly is facing a bribery charge over 1994 marriage to American singer Aaliyah. The K-pop world has been rocked by another sudden death of one of its young stars. We look into the dark underbelly of K-pop and the people who pay the price for fame.
We look at this year’s biggest film flops and why 2019 has been the year of apologies. Star Wars actor says UK black talent is underrepresented – after meeting Americans who didn’t know black people lived in London.
A new Netflix documentary on America’s most prolific serial killer is being reviewed by the Guardian. And Sky has announced it will build a new TV and Film studio complex in North London – creating thousands of jobs.
All in today’s ENTERTAINMENT briefing – A weekly roundup of all the news headlines that you need to know, summarised as part of WTX News Briefing.
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Star Wars actor says he ‘met Americans who didn’t know black people live in London’
WTX News reports John Boyega says he’s met Americans who didn’t know black people lived in London.
The 27-year-old, who grew up in Peckham by British-Nigerian parents, believes such attitudes are fuelled by the under-representation of black UK talent.
“And that in itself is something that the world doesn’t know about yet. I met American people – civilians of a first-world country- who were confused that there were black people in London,” he said.
Read the full story on WTX News
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R Kelly faces bribery charge over 1994 marriage to Aaliyah
BBC News reports R.Kelly has been charged with bribing a government official in order to get a fraudulent identification document to marry an under-age girl in 1994. 
The girl is identified as Jane Doe – but it is widely believed to be US singer Aaliyah.
They got married when she was 15 and Kelly was 27. The certificate says she was 18.
R Kelly is facing several sexual abuse charges with trials in Chicago and New York next year. He denies wrongdoing.
Read the full story on BBC News
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Why 2019 has been the year of the post-box-office flop apology
The Independent says 2019 has been the year for the post-flop confessional. It began with Serenity which opened to dismal reviews and lowly box-office takings. The film’s star Anne Hathaway took to Instagram to defend it. 
The Independent looks over the year’s biggest film flops and the emotional oversharing from its stars. They say the online reactions give an insight into 2019 Hollywood. And gives a look at the terror over where the film industry is heading.
The paper says creatives are under incredible amounts of pressure to deliver, despite no one truly knowing what audiences want to see anymore.
Read the full story on The Independent
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Netflix: He was America’s most deadly serial killer – but it was all a lie
The Guardian says in the mid-1980s, Henry Lee Lucas was a star – at least in America’s exploding fascination with serial killers. 
Lucas, who had confessed to murdering hundreds of people, has been the subject of news features and four feature films, making him the country’s most prolific serial killer. Except it was all a lie.
The new Netflix series The Confession Killer explores how the story spiralled from a by-the-book murder case into a media frenzy.
Read the full story on The Guardian
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Sky to build giant TV and Film studio in North London
The Telegraph says Sky is developing a major new TV and film studio in North London to feed the demand for new programmes from streaming platforms. 
Sky Studios Elstree will stretch 32-acres and will be close to the famous Elstree Studios. It will house 14 stages and cutting edge technology.
The studios are expected to open in 2022 and will create more than 2,000 new jobs and soak up an estimated £3bn of investment in production over the first five years of operation, Sky said.
Read the full story on The Telegraph
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Success and suicide: The dark side of Korea’s K-pop world
WTX News reports South Korea’s pop star and actor, Cha In Ha is the third young star to die in the space of two months. We look into the disturbing truth behind the K-pop phenomena and the young talents who pay the price for success.
The machine-driven K-pop world is subject to “slave contracts”, online bullying, death threats and extreme dieting. The stars are often forced to work long hours, with little time out of the public eye. And often they don’t get paid.
Read the full story on WTX News
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