ROLL CALL: Lady Gaga’s Latest Honor – Getting A Fern Species Named After Her

Your Daily Dispatch of Celebrity Shenanigans

Baby, You Were Fern This Way… What?!?!: What can’t Lady Gaga do? Grammys, perfumes, meat dresses, more chart-topping singles than we can keep track of – and now the singer is taking the botany world by storm. Duke University botanists have named a new genus of ferns – which includes 19 species – after the singer. “We wanted to name this genus for Lady Gaga because of her fervent defense of equality and individual expression,” Kathleen Pryer, director of Duke’s herbarium and professor of biology, said in a statement. And this isn’t just a publicity stunt! According to Pryer, the ferns have “somewhat fluid definitions of gender” and also resemble the singer’s 2010 Grammy Awards outfit. Plus, the fern genus has a distinct DNA sequence that spells out – GAGA. Names of the new 19 ferns, which can be found in Central and South America, Mexico, Arizona and Texas, include Gaga germanotta (an ode to the singer’s real name Stefani Germanotta) and Gaga monstraparva, which means “monster little.” We can only hope that somewhere Madonna is angling to get a new genus of cacti named after her!

When In Rome… Literally!: If you’re in Rome and you’re with Olivia Wilde… you do THIS! Well played Jason Sudeikis!

When In Hawaii… And You’re Don Draper: There’s a ‘60s swimwear revival going on! “Mad Man” and Jon Hamm fans, please enjoy THIS!

Nirvana’s Story Going To Broadway… What Could Possibly Go Wrong!?!?: Courtney Love, Britney Spears’ former manager Sam Lutfi and their goal of bringing Kurt Cobain and Nirvana’s story to a Broadway stage or a big screen near you! In case you missed this gem from the Spears trail currently playing out in court, the singer’s former manager (who is suing her, and now works with the Hole singer) said, “[Courtney Love and I] are currently working on a possible motion picture or Broadway musical based on the Nirvana catalogue, based on her life and Kurt Cobain’s.” Let the casting speculation begin! (P.S., this whole idea makes our ‘90s plaid shirt-wearing inner child very nervous)

— Jesse Spero

Copyright © 2024 by NBC Universal, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This material may not be republished, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Read More

Taylor Swift Pokes Fun At Humidity Causing Hair To Return To ‘Factory Settings’ During S