• Actor Benedict Cumberbatch has urged fans not to film his stage performance of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.
The star, who is playing the lead in the play at London’s Barbican theater, said there is “nothing less supportive or enjoyable” than being on stage and seeing a “big red light” in the audience. Cumberbatch told fans gathered outside the stage door after Saturday’s show that spotting the filming while he was performing was “mortifying.” He told fans to spread his message through social media and warned that future offenders could be evicted from the show. The actor made his debut as Hamlet on Wednesday, receiving mixed reviews from critics. The play is one of the most popular in recent years, and tickets were snapped up within minutes when they were released last year.
• Lawyers for the partner of Bobbi Kristina Brown said a lawsuit accusing him of contributing to her death is false and slanderous. The administrator of Brown’s estate added a wrongful death complaint to the lawsuit against Nick Gordon. It accuses Gordon of giving Brown a “toxic cocktail” and putting her facedown in water. Gordon’s lawyers, Joe Habachy and Jose Baez, said the allegations are baseless. They said Gordon is “heartbroken” and called the suit a “fictitious assault.” The 22-year-old daughter of Whitney Houston died in hospice care July 26, months after she was found facedown and unresponsive in a bathtub in her suburban Atlanta town home Jan. 31. Gordon hasn’t been criminally charged. The Fulton County medical examiner’s office has said an initial autopsy revealed “no significant injuries.”
• Tupelo, Miss., and Memphis are both gearing up for Elvis Presley Week, and now the U.S. Postal Service is getting involved. The Music Icons: Elvis Presley Commemorative Forever Stamp goes on sale this week. The stamp features a black-and-white image of the young King of Rock ’n’ Roll. On Wednesday, there will be a dedication ceremony at Graceland in Memphis. On Thursday, the stamp goes on sale in Tupelo with a dedication ceremony at the Elvis Presley Birthplace in Tupelo. Some souvenir envelopes from the 1993 commemorative issue of a Presley stamp will also be on sale. Presley was born in Tupelo on Jan. 8, 1935, and moved to Memphis with his parents at age 13. He was 42 when he died Aug. 16, 1977, in Memphis.