This is the seventh installment of “Entertainment winners and losers of the week,” covering September 15-23.

It has been another wild week in the world of entertainment with many highs and lows. With so much going on in music, movies and television on a day to day basis, it’s easy to miss a few things. That’s why we’re here. Here are the Amherst Wire Entertainment staff picks for winners and losers of the week:

Jonathan Kermah

Winner: J.Cole

Due to the destructive Hurricane Florence, rapper J.Cole was forced to reschedule his upcoming Dreamville Music Festival. This alone wouldn’t be considered a win, but Cole and his nonprofit organization, the Dreamville Foundation, are doing what they can to aid the city of Fayetteville, North Carolina. The organization is providing temporary housing and hot food stations to citizens affected by the hurricane.

Loser: Drake

Contrary to earlier reports, Drake is not dating 18-year-old model Bella Harris … but the 31-year-old rapper is texting 14-year-old actress Millie Bobby Brown. To play devil’s advocate, Drake can relate to dealing with childhood stardom like the “Stranger Things” star. He probably gives her all sorts of advice about dealing with fame. Wow, Drake’s such a great guy. *Cue “God’s Plan”*

Okay … this just got creepy. Why would a man of Drake’s age want to give dating advice to a 14-year-old? Only Drake can answer that. What advice would a 31-year-old who recently sired a baby with a pornstar have to give to a 14-year-old?

Nami Yamaguchi

Winners: Bert and Ernie … and their creator.

Confirming everyone’s earliest childhood suspicions, Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman revealed that he intended to write Bert and Ernie as a gay couple, modeled after his longtime personal relationship. As a gay man living in the 1980s, Saltzman and his partner felt pressure to hide their relationship. The courage to come out and move in with his partner influenced his writing of characters Bert and Ernie. There has been some backlash from higher-ups working for Sesame Street — consider the television show’s wariness toward losing conservative viewers. Saltzman’s confirmation acknowledges the long-awaited normalization of LGBT+ Americans through television and media representation. For American children sitting at home, watching Bert and Ernie as a normal couple on Sesame Street is integral to future generations acceptance and empathy towards LGBT+ people.

Loser: Emmy hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che  

Based on the judgemental faces in the crowd, celebrities at the Emmys weren’t here for the Weekend Update pairings hosting of the Emmys. Dry laughs followed the duo’s empty jokes, and Jost and Che’s highly praised chemistry seemed to disappear in the big spotlight. The jokes the two made were timely, hitting important current events that rocked the television world, referencing the sensational television show “Roseanne” and sexual harassment. But Jost and Che seemed unable to land the jokes in a way that made them funny while acknowledging their importance. Instead, their jokes made light of genuine issues that many other hosts could’ve framed in a more captivating light. The Weekend Update stars left the Emmys with an award for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series for Saturday Night Live, but unfortunately didn’t win over anyone in the audience.

Astghik Dion:

Winner: Lil Peep and XXXTENTACION fans

On Wednesday, Lil Peep and XXXTENTACION’s posthumous collaboration “Falling Down” was released. This release was an emotional moment for many fans as the two late stars were featured on the same track together. The song was in a way a commemoration of their legacy, showing how even when an artist leaves, their presence is never truly forgotten.

Loser: Suge Knight

Suge Knight, former CEO of Death Row Records, and better known as the man who may or may not have been responsible for the “death” of Tupac, is now facing 28 years in prison after pleading no contest to manslaughter. Knight was pulling into a Compton restaurant during the filming of “Straight Outta Compton” in 2015 when he was approached by a security guard, Cle “Bone” Sloan. The security camera footage captures the two speaking for a bit before Knight gets fed up and backs into the guard with his truck. But one time did not suffice for Knight. After crushing the man once, Knight runs over Sloan again before running over Terry Carter. Carter was killed, while Sloan survived with injuries — and the karma from Sept. 7, 1996 is finally catching up with Knight. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 4.

Tiffany Chasse

Winner: Danielle Carolan

This YouTube sensation recently hit 0.5 million subscribers on her channel as it takes on its eighth year in existence.

YouTube is a platform that is constantly growing and changing, and it has taken me through so many phases of my life. Danielle is a YouTuber I have personally been watching since middle school. While I always thought she was much older than me, it turns out she is only a sophomore at the University of Georgia. She, just like all of us, faces the daily struggles, stresses and fun that comes with being a college student. Her videos like “week in the life,” her hauls, and many other videos at UGA clearly attract an audience much larger than she could’ve ever dreamed. Can you even imagine what half a million people looks like? I sure can’t. Hats off to you, Dani.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BnP7813AaTU/?hl=en&taken-by=daniellecarolan

Loser: Noah Cyrus and Lil Xan

This duo was in one of the shortest lived, yet most publicized and dramatic relationships of the past few years. While the couple only dated for a month, the break up was messy and the leaked “Live or Die” music video just adds to it. Lil Xan claimed that Cyrus was cheating and that their relationship was arranged by the label. Cyrus in return denied the label set up, said the breakup was based on a Charlie Puth meme and claimed Lil Xan was cheating on her. Let me repeat — she said the breakup was based on a Charlie Puth meme. If that isn’t the most immature ending to a relationship, I don’t know what is. Anyway, all of the controversies resurfaced over the “Live or Die” video the couple filmed while still together. This video was meant to be a physical representation of their everlasting love. After the breakup, Lil Xan said the video would never see the light of day, but I guess we can’t all have what we want.

Hayley Solomon

Winner: Maroon 5

It was announced this week that Maroon 5 will be performing at halftime during the 2019 Super Bowl. Some other performers predicted to be chosen were Taylor Swift, Drake and Nicki Minaj. There have been mixed reactions to the announcement, but most are excited about the performance. Super Bowl LIII will take place in Atlanta, Georgia on Feb. 3, 2019.

Loser: Sandra Oh

After being nominated for her sixth Emmy this year, Sandra Oh has come out empty-handed again. Oh was nominated for her performance as Eve Polastri on the BBC America series “Killing Eve,” making her the first Asian woman to be nominated for a lead actress Emmy. She was also nominated five times for her performance as Cristina Yang on “Grey’s Anatomy.” Having seen her performance on Grey’s Anatomy, it is disappointing to see that she has not received an award for any of her incredible performances.

Kacey Connolly

Winner: To All The Boys I’ve Ever Loved

I’m not really one for cliche, sappy teen drama movies, but this Netflix original had my heart defrosting. Lara Jean Covey and Peter Kavinsky’s fake love story that, obviously, turns into a real love story is shattering the hearts of millions of girls across the world while simultaneously supplying them with a fake internet boyfriend as well (Noah Centineo, who plays Kavinsky). This is definitely one chick flick that I will be watching again and again and again.

Loser: Sierra Burgess is a Loser

I’m not critical of Netflix originals often, but this one was truly horrible. Not only is it another basic drama about an unpopular girl finding herself and befriending all the popular kids who finally “see her,” but it’s also just plain weird. Sure, the idea of the town’s favorite boy falling in love with the town’s least favorite girl has a romantic quality, but Jamey does not fall in love with Sierra; he gets catfished by Sierra while thinking it’s the beautiful “it girl” Veronica. Instead of being completely freaked out as any normal guy would be, he falls in love with Sierra, who by the way, turns out to be meaner than the original mean girl in the movie. Netflix definitely needs to make up for this one.

Barbara Talagan

Winner: Ariana Grande

After the death of Mac Miller, Ariana Grande has received some hate from people blaming her for Mac Miller’s death, due to their romantic past. She handled the situation very well by posting her condolences on Instagram with a kind-hearted video of them together. Ariana and her fiance Pete Davidson were supposed to attend the Emmys together, but they were noticeably missing. Ariana Grande’s team later explained, “they needed time to heal and mend.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnt_GTOF9kb/?taken-by=arianagrande

Loser: Kylie Jenner

Sadly, one of the biggest stories on social media this week was the public discovering that Kylie Jenner had eaten her cereal with milk for the first time. It’s disappointing to see that this story garnered so much attention on Twitter. The perception of thinking whatever Kylie Jenner does is perfect translates to people mindlessly buying her cosmetics line, Kylie Cosmetics.

Trevor Wilson:

Winner: Lil Wayne

Legendary rapper Lil Wayne was blessed with the “I Am Hip-Hop” BET Award for 2018. Weezy has had an illustrious 20-year career and was the driving force in a new era of rap back in his prime. The New Orleans native will be honored with the award for his continued prevalence in the hip-hop world.

This is great for Weezy, but fans are still waiting for the highly-anticipated release of Lil Wayne’s “The Carter V.” The album was set to drop Sept. 21, but it never came. Fans are hoping that Lil Wayne drops the long-awaited album especially after his long battle with Cash Money. Wayne sued the record label for $51 million on the grounds they were violating his contract. In June, Weezy won the case and his rights to release the album. For now, we’ll just have to wait until the legend drops the album, but his success in the hip-hop world should be celebrated.

Loser: The Minnesota Timberwolves

Minnesota Timberwolves superstar Jimmy Butler is seeing dollar signs. The small forward demanded a trade from the Timberwolves and prefers to land in New York and Los Angeles. Despite the Timberwolves’ historic 2017-18 season where they claimed a playoff spot for the first time in 13 seasons, Butler wants out.

However, this is just the surface of the Timberwolves’ problems. The feud then created beef between Andrew Wiggins and Stephen Jackson, sparking from an exchange with Wiggins’ younger brother that went awry. Jackson called out Wiggins for “not having any heart” in an Instagram video. Wiggins replied on his story saying, “SJ(Stephen Jackson)/ Old dudes stay hating like he was special bum a**.” The exchange created quite a stir, but the pot was not done cooking.

Later, rumors started to spread that Butler had beef with Karl Anthony-Towns, the superstar center for the Timberwolves. The word was that Butler had an affair with Towns’ significant other. Despite the rumors, Towns quickly shut them down. Oof, what a nightmare. The Wolves are in trouble and their season hasn’t even started yet.

https://twitter.com/BSO/status/1042663687813771265

Email Jonathan at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter @JKermah98.

Email Nami at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter @tsunamiumami.

Email Astghik at [email protected].

Email Tiffany at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter @tchasse7. 

Email Hayley at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter @hayley_solomon. 

Email Kacey at [email protected].

Email Barbara at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter @xoxbarbara8.

Email Trevor at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter @TrevorWilsonOG.