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The pair was captured on video walking beside each other as they made their way out of Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, on Sunday night

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are officially spending time together!

The "Lavender Haze" singer, 33, was captured on video leaving Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, on Sunday night with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, also 33, by her side.

As the two walked together other on their way out of the building, Swift smiled briefly at the camera and appeared to say "bye." Kelce, dressed in a patterned two-piece outfit, also shot a smile and brief nod to the camera.

Swift was part of the crowd cheering on the Chiefs in their matchup against the Chicago Bears Sunday. She watched the on-field action from Kelce's suite with the athlete's mother, Donna Kelce. The pair could be seen sitting shoulder-to-shoulder and chatting and laughing together throughout the game.

The Grammy winner showed her team spirit by wearing a red-and-white Chiefs jacket, which was later tied around her waist as she left the stadium. Footage from the game, shared by Fox Sports on X, showed Swift smiling, cheering and clapping enthusiastically as she watched Kelce and his teammates. At one point, she even raised her hands in the air in excitement.

Swift's stadium appearance comes just days after Kelce invited her to attend the game while appearing on The Pat McAfee Show podcast. A source told PEOPLE that once Swift heard about the invite, she didn't let a busy schedule stop her from accepting.

"Taylor is very focused on work right now and hanging out with her girlfriends," the source said. "Travis invited her to the game, and of course she said 'yes.'"

"She just thought it was a fantastic way to spend Sunday,” the source added.

On the podcast Thursday, host Pat McAfee asked Kelce if he wanted to "expand upon" the rumors that he and Swift are dating, which is "being talked about by the whole entire world right now."

Though he wouldn't confirm at the time whether he and Swift had actually met in person, he did share that he "threw the ball in her court."

"I've seen you rock the stage at Arrowhead [Stadium],” he told McAfee, as if speaking directly to the "Champagne Problems" singer. “You might have to come see me rock the stage at Arrowhead and see which one's a little more lit."

"We'll see what happens in the near future," he added.

It turned out to be a good night for Swift to watch Kelce in action, as he scored an impressive touchdown during the game

With only seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, Kelce caught the ball in the back of the end zone, putting his team up 41-0 over the Bears. After his touchdown, Swift was seen jumping up and down in the suite.

The Chiefs won the game with a final score of 41-10.

The actress opens up in her new memoir, 'Thicker Than Water,' about her parents omitting the information in order to keep quiet about their fertility problems

Kerry Washington is opening up about a startling revelation regarding her parents.

In her new memoir, Thicker Than Water, the 46-year-old Scandal star shares that she recently learned that her father, Earl Washington, is not her biological father. It's news that sent her on her current journey of self-discovery.

"It really turned my world upside down," Washington tells PEOPLE in next week's issue.

The actress explains that she discovered the family secret shortly after she told her parents she was planning to appear on Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s Finding Your Roots, a PBS series where celebrities learn about their ancestors through DNA testing.

Having held onto the secret for decades, Washington's mom, Valerie, a professor, and dad, Earl, a real estate agent, had a private conversation with Gates, who told them it was always best for families to discuss such revelations privately prior to filming. What came next, says Washington, was a text message from her parents inviting her to a family sit-down in the spring of 2018.

"When I got this information, I was like, 'Oh. I now know my story,'" says the star, who recalls feeling a sense of relief at the news after long feeling her parents were keeping things from her and that something was missing. "I didn't know what my story was, but I was playing the supporting character in their story."

Washington says she kept her calm and asked a lot of questions while trying to give her parents grace in what was clearly a difficult moment for them. She learned that they'd opted to use an anonymous sperm donor to help conceive after struggling with fertility issues. They admitted they had all but decided never to tell her.

"I think that dissonance of like, 'Somebody is not telling me something about my body.' made me feel like there was something in my body I had to fix," she says of struggling for years with anxiety, self-esteem issues, and an eating disorder when she was young. She now feels those might have been symptoms of subconsciously sensing her parents' secret.

Armed with the new information, Washington says it led her to want to tell the world her true story —and Thicker Than Water is the result.

"This is really kind of me working to understand my life up until now, given this new information that I have that, in many ways, felt like sort of the missing puzzle piece," she says.

"My parents were not thrilled about me writing this," she notes, though the couple grew supportive throughout the process. But, says the star, "this really is a book about me. I now get to step into being the most important person in my life."

The experience ultimately added a new layer to Washington's bond with her parents.

"I really started to have so much more love and compassion and understanding for my parents," she says. "Taking this deep dive into our family history made me put myself in their shoes and think about the things that they've had to navigate and what they've been through and what they've sacrificed. And it really made me feel closer to them."

The news of her paternity is just one of many revelations in Washington's memoir, which will hit bookshelves on Tuesday, Sept. 26. According to a press release, Washington's memoir will give readers "an intimate view into both her public and private worlds — as an artist, an advocate, an entrepreneur, a mother, a daughter, a wife, a Black woman."

"Writing a memoir is, by far, the most deeply personal project I have ever taken on," Washington told PEOPLE in January. "I hope that readers will receive it with open hearts and I pray that it offers new insights and perspectives, and invites people into deeper compassion — for themselves and others."

Kerry Washington's memoir, Thicker Than Water, is available Sept. 26 wherever books are sold.

The Writers Guild has reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to end its strike after nearly five months. The parties finalized the framework of the deal Sunday when they were able to untangle their stalemate over AI and writing room staffing levels.

“We have reached a tentative agreement on a new 2023 MBA, which is to say an agreement in principle on all deal points, subject to drafting final contract language,” the guild told members this evening in a release, which came just after sunset and the start of the Yom Kippur holiday that many had seen deadline to wrap up deal after five days of long negotiations.

A WGA West spokesman said tonight that the tentative agreement “was made possible by the enduring solidarity of WGA members and extraordinary support of our union siblings who joined us on the picket lines for over 146 days.” He added that there would be “No further comment at this time.”

Details of the WGA’s tentative agreement haven’t been released, but will be revealed by the guild in advance of the membership ratification votes.

Virtual discussions began mid-afternoon between negotiating committees for the WGA and the AMPTP. Along with the fine tuning on issues like AI and staffing one element of some continuing dispute today was around back-to-work schedules and protocols.

The studios also inquired if, once a tentative agreement is ratified by the scribes, if the writers would pick up their pens and hit their keyboards again very soon afterwards. The guild, from what we understand, made it clear that they would not be going back to work until SAG-AFTRA also had a new agreement with the AMPTP, reflective of the WGA’s feeling of solidarity between the two unions that has characterized their first mutual strike since 1960.

It will take a few days for the strike to be officially over as the WGA West and WGA East proceed with their ratification process. During the WGA’s last strike in 2007-08, a tentative agreement was reached on the 96th day and it wasn’t over until the 100th.

The first shows to shut down when the current WGA strike began on May 2 – late-night comedy shows and daytime talk shows – will be able to return to air almost immediately because SAG-AFTRA’s ongoing strike doesn’t include them as struck productions. Films and scripted TV shows that didn’t sign Interim Agreements with SAG-AFTRA will remain dark until that strike is settled as well.

All attention will now turn to ratifying the WGA deal and getting SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP back to the bargaining table to work out a deal to end the actors’ strike, which has now been going on for 73 days.

Hollywood and the entertainment industry can breathe just a little easier, but economists estimated that the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have cost California’s economy some $5 billion.

Here’s the WGA’s message to members tonight:

DEAR MEMBERS,

We have reached a tentative agreement on a new 2023 MBA, which is to say an agreement in principle on all deal points, subject to drafting final contract language.

What we have won in this contract – most particularly, everything we have gained since May 2nd – is due to the willingness of this membership to exercise its power, to demonstrate its solidarity, to walk side-by-side, to endure the pain and uncertainty of the past 146 days. It is the leverage generated by your strike, in concert with the extraordinary support of our union siblings, that finally brought the companies back to the table to make a deal.

We can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional – with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership.

What remains now is for our staff to make sure everything we have agreed to is codified in final contract language. And though we are eager to share the details of what has been achieved with you, we cannot do that until the last “i” is dotted. To do so would complicate our ability to finish the job. So, as you have been patient with us before, we ask you to be patient again – one last time.

Once the Memorandum of Agreement with the AMPTP is complete, the Negotiating Committee will vote on whether to recommend the agreement and send it on to the WGAW Board and WGAE Council for approval. The Board and Council will then vote on whether to authorize a contract ratification vote by the membership.

If that authorization is approved, the Board and Council would also vote on whether to lift the restraining order and end the strike at a certain date and time (to be determined) pending ratification. This would allow writers to return to work during the ratification vote, but would not affect the membership’s right to make a final determination on contract approval.

Immediately after those leadership votes, which are tentatively scheduled for Tuesday if the language is settled, we will provide a comprehensive summary of the deal points and the Memorandum of Agreement. We will also convene meetings where members will have the opportunity to learn more about and assess the deal before voting on ratification.

To be clear, no one is to return to work until specifically authorized to by the Guild. We are still on strike until then. But we are, as of today, suspending WGA picketing. Instead, if you are able, we encourage you to join the SAG-AFTRA picket lines this week.

Finally, we appreciated your patience as you waited for news from us — and had to fend off rumors — during the last few days of the negotiation. Please wait for further information from the Guild. We will have more to share with you in the coming days, as we finalize the contract language and go through our unions’ processes.

As always, thank you for your support. You will hear from us again very soon.

“It’s an honor of a lifetime to finally check a Super Bowl performance off my bucket list."

Usher will be the headlining performer at the 2024 Super Bowl halftime show.

Apple Music, the NFL, Roc Nation, and Usher confirmed the news on social media, sharing a video of the artist getting the call about the gig from none other than new horror actress Kim Kardashian.

Usher will be the headlining performer at the 2024 Super Bowl halftime show.

Apple Music, the NFL, Roc Nation, and Usher confirmed the news on social media, sharing a video of the artist getting the call about the gig from none other than new horror actress Kim Kardashian.

"It's an honor of a lifetime to finally check a Super Bowl performance off my bucket list," Usher said in a statement to EW. "I can't wait to bring the world a show unlike anything else they've seen from me before. Thank you to the fans and everyone who made this opportunity happen. I'll see you real soon."

Soon after the news, the singer revealed more details about his highly anticipated ninth studio album. The record, titled Coming Home, will be released Feb. 11, the same day he will perform at the Super Bowl. The album will include his recent hit single "Good Good," featuring 21 Savage and Summer Walker.

"We've put a lot of thought and creativity into this new album to tell a story that is open to interpretation and that will connect with people in different ways," Usher said of Coming Home in a statement. "I know this has been a long time coming for my fans, and what I'll say is that all good things come to those who wait. I hope you enjoy it once you hear it."

Usher, who was first discovered on Star Search 20 years ago, has become one of the best-selling artists in American music history, selling more than 80 million albums worldwide and winning eight Grammy awards. His Billboard chart success includes nine Hot 100 No. 1 hits and 18 Hot 100 Top 10 singles.

The decorated artist is approaching the end of his Las Vegas residency, which is set to run through Dec. 2. He also recently released "Boyfriend," with a video featuring Keke Palmer.

Usher's performance will follow that of Rihanna, who presented hits from her bottomless catalog at the 2023 halftime show while pregnant. The year before, the performance featured a star-studded troupe that included Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and 50 Cent.

The 2024 Super Bowl halftime show will be presented by Apple Music and take place on Feb. 11, 2024, the same day Usher's new album, Coming Home, drops.

Jones recalled her less than exemplary experience on the sketch show in her new memoir, Leslie F*cking Jones

Leslie Jones isn’t harboring any nostalgia for her time in Studio 8H. Despite spending five seasons making jokes and occasionally gagging on fake blood every Saturday night, Jones—who recently hosted ABC’s Supermarket Sweep reboot—said in 2020 that she doesn’t miss her time on Saturday Night Live “at all.” “That job was like two jobs and very restrictive too. I wasn’t very free there,” she said, although she neglected to elaborate on exactly how constricted she felt in that particular interview.

In her new memoir Leslie F*cking Jones, however, the comedian isn’t holding back. In an interview with NPR to promote the book—out this week—Jones had some choice words for how her identity and the identities of her fellow cast mates were treated by the show.

“SNL, they take that one [trope] and they wring it. They wring it because that’s the machine. So whatever it is that I’m giving that they’re so happy about, they feel like it’s got to be that all the time or something like that. So it was like a caricature of myself,” she said. “Either I’m trying to love on the white boys or beat up on the white boys, or I’m doing something loud.”

While these character beats certainly speak to the show’s questionable history with Black performers—Jones, who left the show in 2019, is one of only eight Black women featured in all 48 seasons—the comic asserts that this hemming in applied to all cast members regardless of their race. “I was talking to another cast member that retired and they said ‘But in fairness, that’s how they do all of them. Not just the Black ones,’” she said, suggesting that this certainly happened to Taran Killam, who suddenly left the show (along with Jay Pharoah) ahead of its 42nd season. “Taran wanted to do so much other stuff, but they would only have Taran in those very masculine [roles] and singing and stuff and I said, ‘Oh! This is a machine.’” (Pharoah has also echoed Jones’ sentiments about being boxed in.)

Still, Jones tempered her statements by expressing her “love” for Lorne Michaels. “In his defense, I used to always be like, ‘He’s a puppet master. So he has to make the cast happy, he has to make the writers happy. He has to make the WGA happy. He has to make NBC happy. Then he has to make a family in Omaha, Nebraska, who’s watching the show happy,’” she said. “Imagine the strings that have to go out to him? So it’s a machine that has to work, you know?”

The romance comes nearly a month after Davidson and Chase Sui Wonders called it quits.

Pete Davidson is back in the dating game. According to multiple reports, he's now dating Outer Banks star Madelyn Cline.

At this point it's unclear how the two met or when things got started, but Us Weekly, citing a source, first reported on Friday that "they spent the night together at the Beverly Hills Hotel and then had a breakfast together there the next morning."

The pair, according to the outlet, were "really low-key and kept things casual, wearing baseball hats." TMZ then matched the report Saturday morning and, citing a source close to the Saturday Night Live alum, said they're officially an item.

The budding romance comes less than a month after Davidson called it quits with Chase Sui Wonders after 9 months of dating. A source at the time told ET, "Pete Davidson and Chase Sui Wonders have broken up and both of them are focusing on themselves."

Davidson and Wonders initially met on the set of Bodies Bodies Bodies in 2021, in which she plays his love interest. They were first linked together in December 2022, when they hit up a New York Rangers game at Madison Square Garden, and they confirmed their romance with a kiss the following month while at Universal Studios Hollywood.

As for Cline, she previously dated her Outer Banks co-star Chase Stokes. They dated for a little more than a year but split up in November 2021. A source at the time told ET that "it just wasn't working between them anymore," though they remained friendly after the split.

In an interview with Cosmopolitan earlier this year, the actress was asked if their real-life split made their on-screen romance (Cline plays Sarah Cameron and Stokes plays the show’s lead, John B.) awkward.

"We always said that the job remains untouched," she told the magazine. "Nothing else, personal or negative, will touch the job."

For the last nine months, Stokes has been dating country superstar Kelsea Ballerini.

No word if Davidson and Cline bonded over their exes sharing the same name.

The car Britney Spears drove during, perhaps, the most cataclysmic year of her life is now for sale ... meaning someone's getting the keys to one of the most photographed celeb vehicles of all time.

The iconic ride is Britney's black 2006 Mercedes-Benz CLK350, and it's been on display at the Volo Auto Museum in Illinois since 2011 -- but now it has a price tag of $70k.

The sporty convertible was once known as the most dangerous vehicle on the streets of L.A., because it's the one Brit was driving in 2007 as her life started to spiral out of control.

That was the year she zoomed through red lights while playing cat-and-mouse with paparazzi, went for countless late night joyrides and also had an infamous hit-and-run.

While it's far from a unique car, Brit's Benz became almost as recognizable as her as paps snapped hundreds of shots of it on the daily.

This dark stage in her life came to a head in January of 2008 when she was removed from her house by ambulance, and taken to a hospital -- and later that year she would be placed under the conservatorship that remained in place until 2021.

In other words, this car's been through the wringer ... which is exactly why it's been parked in a museum for all to see.

However, Volo's looking to unload the piece of pop star history, so it could be yours if you're game -- just drive carefully.

The original homeowner was worried that the actor would get overtaken by a spirit and "do some serious damage."

Kevin Bacon is sharing the spooky stipulation that came with purchasing land next to his Connecticut farm.

The actor, who first purchased his own rural farmland back in 1983, revealed on Rob Lowe's Literally podcast that he was prevented from buying a neighboring plot of land until he contractually agreed to "destroy" a house on it that the original owner believed was 'haunted.'

"One of the pieces that we bought had an old house in it and [the owner] didn't want me to own the house. It was an abandoned house that he had grown up in," Bacon explained. "We kind of went back and forth on it for a while and then, eventually, I said, 'Listen, you can't sell me a piece of land but not sell me the house that's on it. Like, that's just weird. What if you sell it and there's somebody that's just living, basically, right up in the backyard?'"

The owner, however, was hesitant to part with the property. As Bacon recalled, "He said, 'I can't sell it to you because it's haunted and I'm afraid that you'll get possessed and, you know, do some serious damage.'"

Bacon noted that they ended up going "back and forth on this haunted house thing" for a while until they "finally came to an agreement, in the contract, that I had to destroy it within a month" of purchasing the home.

Lowe, a supernatural expert in his own right, then interjected, "Please tell me you went and spent a night in the haunted house?"

"Not only did I not do that," Bacon replied, "But I went up there and there were some beautiful old pine boards and a bannister and I said to Kyra [Sedgwick], 'We've gotta take those out.' And she's like, 'No you're not. You're not putting those f---ing things in our house.'"

He also revealed why the owner believed the house to be haunted in the first place. "It was a long story that had to do with a Native American who, in the 1700s, had been murdered by a colonial soldier," he recounted. "[The owner] had had ghostbusters there. It was a whole long thing."

While he eventually acquired the land (along with a fair few goats and miniature ponies), Bacon has yet to actually see any supernatural activity. "You've been in scary movies and I always find that, when you're in a scary movie, everybody wants to know, well, have you ever seen a ghost? Do you believe in ghosts?" he said. "The thing I always say is, 'I would really love to but, as of yet, it hasn't happened. But I hope someday it will.'"

Lowe, who once claimed he'd talked to a real ghost while filming The Lowe Files with his sons, then proceeded to recount his own supernatural experiences from working on the series. "I wish that I had kept that house up," Bacon joked. "That would've been a great episode. Celebrity haunted house!"

Lowe answered, "I would've been there in a minute."

The recent NBA Hall of Fame inductee sat down with Shannon Sharpe and revisited a "rough" chapter in his relationship with the actress

Dwyane Wade is looking back at a painful moment in his past with wife Gabrielle Union — one that almost led to the end of their relationship.

While on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast, the NBA Hall of Famer, 41, talked about the time when he had to tell Union, 50, that he had fathered his son Xavier with another woman during a break in their relationship.

Wade said that at the time, back in 2013, he moved to end their relationship, thinking it would be best for both of them.

“I tried to pussyfoot around it, I tried to break up with her,” Wade told Sharpe regarding Union. “‘Hey, things have been bad lately,’ ‘Hey, we’ve been having a little distance in our relationship anyway,’ I tried all of that. She kept showing up.”

And Wade knew it was imperative to have the “hard conversation” with the Bring It On star and talk to her about fathering a child with another woman.

“You’re thinking about it all, it’s all scary,” Wade said. “One, the whole situation is scary enough, you're a public figure. But you know that this is going to hurt someone that you’ve been building a relationship with and a life with.”

He continued, “No matter what people say on the outside, or what people want to think, ultimately you gotta sit with you, and you gotta sit with this person, and I had to sit with my wife and have this conversation.”

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Wade added that tumult coincided with the playoffs and was a “rough” time, but that he couldn’t have gotten through the situation without Union by his side.

Ultimately, the couple elected to move through their relationship difficulties and were engaged in Dec. 2013, marrying the following August. After dealing with years of infertility — which they frequently spoke openly about — they went on to welcome daughter Kaavia James Union-Wade via surrogate in 2018.

Wade shares two children with ex-wife Siovaughn Funches; Zaire, 21, and Zaya, 16, as well as Xavier, now 9, with Aja Metoyer. Wade is also the legal guardian of his nephew, Dahveon Morris, 21.

“It hasn’t been perfect, it will never be perfect but that was nine years ago,” Wade said of their past relationship struggles. “We go to therapy, we’ve had shouts about it, we’ve had regular conversations about, and so it’s been something that going to be something that I have to work at and work on.”

He added, “It doesn’t go away because years come or because I say ‘sorry.’ ”

In an essay for ­Time in 2021, the actress shared her own perspective on the couple's emotional journey.

"It should go without saying that we were not in a good place at the time that child was conceived," Union wrote. "But we were doing much better when he finally told me about the pregnancy. To say I was devastated is to pick a word on a low shelf for convenience."

She added, "There are people — strangers I will never meet — who have been upset that I have not previously talked about that trauma. I have not had words, and even after untold amounts of therapy I am not sure I have them now."

Still, Wade believes the experience is all part of their “story.”

“At the end of this day, this is my family, this is my story,” Wade told Sharpe. “We gonna get through this how we gonna get through it, but we gonna get through it.”

Adam Mac said local board members expressed concerns over his sexuality, so he bowed out of his upcoming concert.

Country stars Kelsea Ballerini, Maren Morris, Brandy Clark, and more have rallied around gay musician Adam Mac after he canceled an upcoming show at a Kentucky festival after local board members allegedly expressed concern over his sexuality.

In an Instagram video shared Thursday, Mac said after an unnamed "sweet" government employee worked to bring him on as a performer at the annual Logan County Tobacco and Heritage Festival, the same person later informed him that others were worried about his attendance there.

"She explained to me that there were some board members and some people in town who had questions about what kind of performance I would be putting on at the Tobacco Festival, and wanted to ensure that I would not be promoting homosexuality or sexuality in a family-friendly environment," he said. "I don't know what they expected I was going to do other than just come and put on a hell of a show, like we do. It was made aware to me that there were people in the town that were very upset that they would have a gay person headline the festival."

Mac added that he supported locals' rights to "not listen" to his music or "not come to the show," but said he was disturbed that others would make comments about him online and hold protests.

"[It's] just so disheartening, and I went back and forth all night long about what is the right thing to do, because a part of me feels like it would be letting down the people who need to see me most there in that space and the people who just were so excited for me to come home and put on a show," he said. "It also feels like if I don't do the show, I'm caving and letting those people win, which, also, if you know me is not something that I like to do. It's hard for me to say this, but I think the best move forward is to cancel the show and let them book someone else who will not be as controversial."

When reached for comment about the show, a Logan County Chamber of Commerce representative told EW, "Right now, at this time, we are not speaking about it."

However, several industry heavyweights — including Morris, Ballerini, and Clark — are supporting Mac.

"You are loved. I'm sorry this happened but glad you're sharing it here," wrote Morris, who recently stood with drag performers on stage amid an onslaught of anti-trans and anti-drag legislation around the country, and revealed that she's stepping back from country music amid growing prejudices in the genre.

Ballerini pushed back against the anti-LGBTQ sentiment, writing, "This is heartbreaking and so disappointing. I'm really sorry. You've got your army in these comments." RuPaul's Drag Race icon Ginger Minj also responded, calling the situation "ridiculous."

Clark, another queer member of the country music community, commented on Mac's post as well, calling it "heartbreaking" but stressing that "it is THEIR loss!!!!!"

"I have been and will always stand with my union members of the WGA, SAG, and DGA."

Matt Walsh is bidding bye-bye to the ballroom — at least for now.

The Veep actor, who was set to star on the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars, announced that he would not be competing on the dance program until the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike has officially been resolved.

"I am taking a pause from Dancing With the Stars until an agreement is made with the WGA," Walsh wrote in a statement published in an Instagram Story on Thursday. "I was excited to join the show and did so under the impression that it was not a WGA show and fell under a different agreement."

After learning otherwise, Walsh, who is a member of the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), quickly sashayed off stage. "This morning when I was informed by my union, the WGA, that it is considered struck work, I walked out of my rehearsal," he said. "I have been and will always stand with my union members of the WGA, SAG, and [the Directors Guild of America]."

Walsh concluded, "Beyond our union artists, I am sensitive to the many people impacted by the strike, and I hope for a speedy and fair resolution and to one day work again with all the wonderful people I met at DWTS who tolerated my dancing."

DWTS, which typically employs at least one WGA writer each season, is considered a struck production by the WGA. In recent days, guild members have been picketing outside the show's rehearsals, with some signs directly criticizing Walsh's involvement, ahead of its Sept. 26 premiere.

Walsh isn't the only actor who has been called out for joining the show. Alyson Hannigan and Mira Sorvino have also come under fire for their involvement because they, too, are members of SAG-AFTRA. However, the pair are not technically violating any strike protocols by appearing on Dancing With the Stars because, as Sorvino explained, all reality, unscripted, and competition programs operate under a separate contract.

The WGA has been on strike since May 2 after failing to reach an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP). They are seeking higher wages as well as clearer contract provisions, overall protection for writers, and more.

Representatives for ABC did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.

Matthew Scott Montgomery, who appeared in "So Random!" and other series, says he was subjected to shock therapy as part of his supposed treatment.

The Disney Channel put Matthew Scott Montgomery on the road to stardom more than a decade ago, but privately, the actor was grappling to come to terms with his true self.

Appearing on Tuesday’s episode of “Vulnerable With Christy Carlson Romano,” Montgomery recalled his decision to seek out so-called gay conversion therapy during his early years in Hollywood.

“In the environment that I grew up in, you’re taught that you deserve to be punished all the time,” said the North Carolina native, who appeared on “So Random!” and “Sonny With a Chance,” among other Disney Channel series.

“At the time, the career stuff was going so well that I was still in this broken prison brain of thinking: ‘I’m on red carpets. I’m on TV every week. This is too good. I should be punished on my days off.’”

He added: “Disney had nothing to do with it. It was not their idea. They didn’t know; no one knew. My cast mates did not know at the time.”

Montgomery said he visited a center in Los Angeles that was known for working with men in entertainment, though he didn’t identify anyone by name.

“Their selling point was, you look at any billboard in LA and see any male actor — they’ve been through these walls before,” he said. There, he was subjected to both electroshock therapy and hypnosis as part of his supposed treatment.

“They would kind of do a hypnosis-y kind of thing where you would imagine scenarios,” he explained. “You imagine the world is post-apocalypse and it’s a decimated Earth, and the only person left on Earth is a straight man. ... You go and you walk up and hug a straight man. And when you hugged the straight man in my mind, they would zap my hands, like the electric shock.”

Conversion therapy, sometimes referred to as “reparative therapy,” is an unfounded and harmful practice that attempts to change an LGBTQ person’s sexuality or gender identity. It has been explicitly discredited by the American Psychological Association and other top medical groups.

At present, 22 U.S. states have banned conversion therapy ― which has been known to treat LGBTQ identity as though it were an addiction ― on minors. Last year, President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services to “explore guidance to clarify that federally-funded programs cannot offer so-called ‘conversion therapy.’”

However, as Montgomery’s remarks demonstrate, the practice continues to be promoted by some, especially within conservative religious communities. The actor described his parents as “very, very conservative,” and said they “were really upset” when he came out as gay at 18.

“My mom collapsed sobbing when she found out,” he said, adding that his father told him, “Being gay is a choice.”

Ultimately, Montgomery came to the realization that he could live as his authentic self after appearing in a production of Del Shores’ “Yellow,” in which he played a queer teenager who is taken in by a loving family after being rejected by his birth mother, a conservative Christian.

“That was the therapy I actually needed because I got the experience of what it was like to have a family not only love me, but celebrate me and really accept me,” he said.

These days, Montgomery’s career is once again on the upswing. Last year, it was announced that “Howdy, Neighbor!” — an LGBTQ-inclusive horror film featuring a script he’d written — had been picked up for production. He also recently reunited with Demi Lovato, a fellow Disney Channel veteran, on the Peacock documentary series “Unidentified.”

In his “Vulnerable” interview, he described Lovato as “my soulmate” and “the person who loves me the deepest,” and he credited the pop star with helping him “curate a life that was filled with love and art and expression.”