A popular Orlando restaurant that regularly features drag shows has filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Florida and Gov. Ron DeSantis less than a week after he signed a bill targeting drag performances. The owner of Hamburger Mary’s Orlando filed the lawsuit Monday in Orlando federal court. The owner says the state is depriving the business of its First Amendment rights to free expression. The restaurant is asking the court to temporarily stop the law from taking effect. According to the lawsuit, the restaurant had hosted “family friendly” drag shows on Sundays, but the new Florida law is forcing them to ban children from all shows. This has led to a 20% drop in Sunday bookings.
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Ray Stevenson, the Irish actor who played the villainous British governor in “RRR,” an Asgardian warrior in the “Thor” films, and a member of the 13th Legion in HBO’s “Rome,” has died. He was 58. Representatives for Stevenson told The Associated Press that he died Sunday but had no other details to share on Monday. Aside from the first three “Thor” films, in which he played Volstagg, his other prominent film roles included the “Divergent” trilogy, “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and “The Transporter: Refueled.” On the small screen, he was the roguish Titus Pullo in “Rome,” a role he said really got his career going in the United States. The popular series ran from 2005 to 2007.
The Cannes Film Festival is on, which means stopwatches are out. Nowhere are the length of standing ovations at high-wattage premieres more carefully recorded and parsed than in Cannes. Did a movie garner a triumphant eight-minute standing ovation? Or did the audience stand for a mere four or five minutes? Such effusive displays of enthusiasm have come to be a hallmark of Cannes and, sometimes, a bit of marketing gimmick for films looking to resonate far from the Croisette. If Cannes, the world’s largest and glitziest film festival, stands for cinematic excess, its thunderous standing ovations can seem like its greatest overindulgence. No one needs a bathroom break?
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, but artist and baker Jasmine Cho brings attention to AAPIs every month. Her medium? Cookies. The Korean American self-described “cookie activist” has gained fans over the last several years for finely detailed cookie portraits of famous and forgotten figures. Actors Awkwafina, Daniel Dae Kim and Tamlyn Tomita are among those who have gushed about receiving the cookie treatment. Cho's pastries with a purpose have catapulted her into a different level of fame as baker, lecturer and social justice advocate. It all started in 2016 when Cho made a cookie likeness of a friend and discovered a new platform.
The independent bookselling community continues to grow, with membership in the American Booksellers Association reaching its highest levels in more than 20 years. Three years after the pandemic shut down most of the physical bookstores in the U.S. and the independent community feared hundreds might close permanently, the ABA has nearly 300 more members (under stricter rules for membership) than it did in 2019, the last full year before the spread of COVID-19. Allison Hill, CEO of the trade association, says “It speaks to a sea change coming out of the pandemic. Some new owners cite the rise in book bannings as the reason they went into bookstore ownership.
When Polish filmmaker Maciek Hamela first began evacuating Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s all-out war on their country, he wasn’t intending to make a film. He was one of the many Poles extending humanitarian aid to neighbors under attack, and had turned down an offer to film a television investigation there. But the reflections of the people he was transporting to safety in his van were so poignant that soon he began filming them. The result is “In the Rearview,” a documentary film being shown at the Cannes film festival in France as part of a parallel program devoted to independent cinema. It is not in competition.
This week’s new entertainment releases include an album from Matchbox Twenty, dinosaurs coming to life in the second season of “Prehistoric Planet” on Apple TV+ and the action-comedy series “American Born Chinese” on Disney+ with new Oscar winners Ke Huy Quan and Michele Yeoh. The “SmartLess” podcast gets onto the small screen as Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett enjoy the documentary treatment in “Smartless: On the Road.” And why not celebrate the end of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” by singing along with an album of the fifth and final season’s music?
The NAACP over the weekend issued a travel advisory for Florida, joining two other civil rights groups in warning potential tourists that recent laws championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida lawmakers are “openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.” The NAACP has long been an advocate for Black Americans. It joins the League of United Latin American Citizens, a Latino civil rights organization, and Equality Florida, a gay rights advocacy group, in issuing travel advisories for the Sunshine State. Florida is one of the most popular states in the U.S. for tourists, and tourism is one of its biggest industries.
It was well into the process of making “Killers of the Flower Moon” that Martin Scorsese realized it wasn’t a detective story. Scorsese, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and screenwriter Eric Roth had many potential avenues in adapting David Grann’s expansive nonfiction history, “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.” The film that Scorsese and company premiered Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival, however, wasn’t like the one they initially set out to make. The filmmakers said the shift was largely driven from collaboration with the Osage Nation. Scorsese says the movie became not a whodunit but "a who-didn’t-do-it.”
“Dial of Destiny" is the first Indiana Jones film without Spielberg behind the camera. After years of development, Spielberg and Lucasfilm decided to pass the reigns to James Mangold, the “Ford vs. Ferrari” filmmaker. He was 18 years old when he saw “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in a Hudson Valley theater on opening day in 1981. Mangold was tasked with not only restoring the luster of one of the most beloved film series but giving Harrison Ford a poignant send-off.
Martin Scorsese unveiled “Killers of the Flower Moon” in Cannes on Saturday, debuting a sweeping American epic about greed and exploitation on the bloody plains of an Osage Nation reservation in 1920s Oklahoma. Scorsese’s latest is one of his most ambitious. Adapting David Grann’s nonfiction bestseller, it stretches nearly three and a half hours and cost Apple $200 million to make. Nothing has been more anticipated at this year’s Cannes than this high-budget premiere. The red carpet drew a wide spectrum of stars, including actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro. Apple CEO Tim Cook also attended.
British novelist Martin Amis, who brought a rock ‘n’ roll sensibility to his stories and lifestyle, has died. He was 73. His death, from cancer of the esophagus, was confirmed by his agent, Andrew Wylie, on Saturday. Amis was the son of another British writer, Kingsley Amis. Martin Amis was a leading voice among a generation of writers that included his good friend, the late Christopher Hitchens, Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie. Among his best-known works were “Money,” a satire about consumerism in London, “The Information” and “London Fields,” along with his 2000 memoir, “Experience.”
The week in May when ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox traditionally unveiled programming plans in glitzy presentations to advertisers has always spoken to the networks' power over popular culture. It was decidedly muted this year, both to the continued growth of streaming and uncertainties caused by the Hollywood writers strike. Picketers marched this week in front of the Manhattan venues where the annual presentations took place, and stars stayed away. More importantly, the strike lends mystery to whether TV will have much of a fall season at all. Some of the broadcast networks took strikingly different tacks in how they approach a future that is in shadows.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking that a federal judge be disqualified from the First Amendment lawsuit filed by Disney against the Florida governor and his appointees. The DeSantis motion filed Friday claims U.S. District Judge Mark Walker's prior statements have raised questions about his impartiality on the state’s efforts to take over Disney World’s governing body. Disney's lawsuit alleges the Republican governor and his appointees violated the company’s right to free speech, as well as the contracts clause, by taking over the special governing district that previously had been controlled by Disney supporters. Walker was nominated to the federal bench in 2012 by President Barack Obama.
Jim Brown was both extraordinary and extraordinarily complicated. One man. Many versions. His greatness on the football field is beyond reproach. For generations, Brown, who died Thursday night peacefully at his home in Los Angeles, has long been the standard of excellence for running backs, a freakish blend of brute power and blazing speed who in many ways changed the NFL forever. But Brown, who retired to pursue a film career, was also a civil rights pioneer whose image was tarnished by accusations of domestic violence against women.
Scottish-Ghanaian architect Lesley Lokko is giving voices that have long been silenced a platform at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale. It's the first biennale architectural exhibition ever curated by an African and features a preponderance of work by Africans and the African diaspora. Opening Saturday, the 18th architectural Biennale is titled “The Laboratory of the Future" and explores decolonization and decarbonization. Lokko says these are topics about which Africans have much to say, citing the long exploitation of the continent of both human and environmental resources. Lokko tapped global stars like David Adjaye and Theaster Gates among 89 participants in the main show — more than half of them from Africa or the African diaspora.
Adidas says it will begin selling its more than $1 billion worth of unsold Yeezy sneakers later this month. The company says proceeds from the sale will be donated to various anti-racism groups. The German sportswear brand said recipients will include the Anti-Defamation League, which fights antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change, run by social justice advocate Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd. Yeezy products have been unavailable to shoppers since Adidas terminated its partnership with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, in October 2022 following his antisemitic comments on social media and in interviews.
Henry Fambrough had a musical homecoming of sorts at “Hitsville U.S.A.” Fambrough, one of the founding members of the iconic R&B group The Spinners, took a tour Friday of Motown’s Studio A in Detroit as part of a ceremony that included the donation to the Motown Museum of 375 outfits worn during performances. Originally called The Domingoes, the group was formed in 1954 just north of Detroit in Ferndale. In 1964, The Spinners joined Motown Records. Their first big hit for Motown was “It’s A Shame” in 1970. The group would later sign with Atlantic Records and turn out a string of hits that included “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love,” “Then Came You” and “The Rubberband Man.”
The sports world reacts to the announcement that Jim Brown, an NFL star, social activist and actor, has died at the age of 87.
Jim Brown, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, civil rights advocate and actor, has died at 87.
This week’s new entertainment releases include albums from Kesha and Dave Matthews Band, while rapper Jack Harlow stars in a remake of “White Men Can’t Jump” and wilderness expert Bear Grylls tests contestants on their survival skills, physicality and gross-out tolerance with "I Survived Bear Grylls.” Anna Nicole Smith gets the Netflix documentary treatment in “Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me,” chronicling her life as a model, Playboy playmate and reality star. And stock up on tissues because home renovation twins Drew and Jonathan Scott’s series “Celebrity IOU” is back with new episodes on HGTV.
If last year’s Cannes was partially defined by its tribute to “Top Gun Maverick” star Tom Cruise, this year’s has belonged to Harrison Ford. The 80-year-old Ford is retiring Indiana Jones, and saying goodbye to one of cinema’s most iconic swashbucklers after he first debuted, with fedora and whip, more than 40 years ago. It’s been a moving farewell tour — most of all for Ford, who has teared up frequently along the way. Ford said Friday that it's been like watching “a relic of your life” pass by. Ford says he loves the character of Indy “and what it brought it my life.”
Sean Penn has strongly backed the current Hollywood screenwriters strike while speaking at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday, saying the dispute over Artificial Intelligence is “a human obscenity.” Penn addressed the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike in a press conference for his new film, “Black Flies,” director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s harrowing, gritty drama about New York paramedics. Asked about the strike, Penn said “the industry has been upending the writers and actors and directors for a very long time.” Penn’s comments come as the potential for a wider work stoppage in Hollywood may be growing, with directors and actors also considering their next steps.
Andy Rourke, bass guitarist of The Smiths, one of the most influential British bands of the 1980s, has died after a lengthy illness with pancreatic cancer, his former bandmate Johnny Marr said Friday. He was 59. In a lengthy post on Instagram, guitarist and songwriter Marr paid tribute to Rourke, who he first met when both were schoolboys in 1975. During their short time together as a four-piece band between 1982 and 1987, The Smiths deliberately stayed away from the mainstream of popular music, garnering a cult following on the independent music scene.
May 12-18, 2023
The Los Angeles Dodgers have removed a satirical LGBTQ+ group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from the team’s annual Pride Night after opposition from conservative Catholic groups. The team announced Wednesday that the group, which primarily consists of men dressed as nuns, wouldn't receive an award during the June 16 event, citing the “strong feelings” of people who were offended. The California-based Sisters raise money for charities and engage in various activities with a mission statement to "promote human rights and respect for diversity." But opponents say they mock the Catholic faith. On Thursday, the group said it wasn’t anti-Catholic and accused the Dodgers of capitulating to what it called "hateful and misleading information from people outside their community.”
Salman Rushdie has made his first in-person public appearance since being stabbed repeatedly and hospitalized nine months ago. The author attended Thursday night's annual gala of PEN America, the literary and free expression organization for which he once served as president. Rushdie said he feels great before the gala started. The 75-year-old attended the event, where hundreds of writers and other PEN members were gathering. “Saturday Night Live” founder Lorne Michaels was among those scheduled to be honored. Last August, Rushdie was stabbed multiple times during an appearance at the Chautaqua Institute in western New York, leaving him blind in his right eye and struggling to write.
The Walt Disney Co. says it's scrapping plans to build a new campus in central Florida and relocate 2,000 employees from Southern California to work in digital technology, finance and product development. Thursday's announcement follows a year of attacks from Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature, with Disney filing a First Amendment lawsuit against him and other officials last month. Disney had planned to build the campus about 20 miles from the giant Walt Disney World theme park resort. But a company official says in a memo employees that “new leadership and changing business conditions” prompted Disney to abandon those plans.
Just a year ago, the image of Johnny Depp smiling and waving atop the Palais steps at the Cannes Film Festival would have been unthinkable to most — including to Depp, himself. This time last year, Depp was immersed in a libel trial he brought against Amber Heard, his ex-wife, based on a 2018 Washington Post op-ed piece in which she referred to herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” This week, though, he's been celebrated in Cannes with his first film in three years even while public opinion remains sharply divided. Depp told the AP that he once felt that he had found “the basement to the bottom.”
Christiane Amanpour, the veteran international correspondent who has been at CNN for 40 years, became the network's first journalist to publicly criticize the decision to host Donald Trump for a town hall in New Hampshire last week. The network has received criticism for giving the former president a live platform in front of a sympathetic crowd to spread misinformation about the 2020 election and other topics. Amanpour says she would have “dropped the mic at nasty person,” referring to Trump lobbing that insult at moderator Kaitlan Collins. Regarding Trump coverage, Amanpour told a group of graduating journalism students that “maybe less is more” and “maybe live is not always right.”
The Supreme Court has sided with a photographer who claimed the late Andy Warhol had violated her copyright on a photograph of the singer Prince. The Supreme Court sided 7-2 with photographer Lynn Goldsmith. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a majority opinion that: “Lynn Goldsmith’s original works, like those of other photographers, are entitled to copyright protection, even against famous artists."The case involved images Warhol created of Prince as part of a 1984 commission for Vanity Fair. Warhol used a Goldsmith photograph as his starting point. Warhol died in 1987.
Deep-sea researchers have completed the first full-size digital scan of the Titanic, showing the entire wreck in unprecedented detail and clarity. Using two remote operated submersibles, a team of researchers spent six weeks in the North Atlantic mapping the whole shipwreck and the surrounding 3-mile debris field, where personal belongings of the ocean liner’s passengers such as shoes and watches were scattered. Richard Parkinson, founder and chief executive of deep-sea exploration firm Magellan, estimated that the resulting data is 10 times larger than any underwater 3D model ever attempted before. Researchers have spent months rendering the large amount of data they gathered, and a documentary on the project is expected to come out next year
The latest chapter in the drama surrounding Prince Harry and Meghan’s treatment by the tabloid media was much ado about something. But exactly what happened in New York when the royals were followed by a group of photographers was not completely clear. What was evident is that the pursuit would likely only fuel Harry’s fury with the media as well as his greatest fear that his wife could meet the same fate as his mother, Princess Diana. Diana died in a car crash while being chased by paparazzi. The couple’s representatives claimed they had been pursued by paparazzi in a “near catastrophic car chase” through the streets of Manhattan. Police said the pursuit was relatively short, led to no injuries, collisions or arrests and warranted no further investigation.
Award-winning actress Stephanie Beatriz will serve as the grand marshal for the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 later this month. Beatriz is perhaps best known for starring for nearly a decade as Detective Rosa Diaz on the TV show “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” She also voiced Madrigal on the Academy Award-winning film “Encanto." She follows country music star Blake Shelton, who was the grand marshal last year. Others have included Army General Norman Schwarzkopf and Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin.
The show must go on. Even when its Ukrainian director is drafted by the army weeks before opening night. “Silence, Silence, Silence, Please” is a play that tackles Russia’s war in Ukraine had its world debut in Portugal last week. But it’s chief creator was conspicuously missing from among the packed audience. Pavlo Yurov had meant to be there. Weeks before the opening he had gone to get special documentation that would permit him to make a trip out of Ukraine since men of fighting age are barred from leaving. But he was drafted by Ukraine’s National Guard and is now a press officer attached to a brigade preparing to participate in a much anticipated counteroffensive.
Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford will swing into Cannes on Thursday for the world premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” in one of the most anticipated events of the French Riviera festival. Ford, who has said “Dial of Destiny” will be his last performance as the character, is also set to receive an honorary Palme d’Or from the Cannes Film Festival. Last year, Cannes feted “Top Gun Maverick” and Tom Cruise in a similar manner. It’s not the first “Indiana Jones” film to bow in Cannes. The fourth installment, “Indiana and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” launched at the 2008 edition of the festival.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino seems slightly more optimistic about completing what he would see as an acceptable deal for the broadcast rights to the upcoming Women’s World Cup in five key European countries. Infantino walked the green carpet at a gala event for the unveiling of the logo and branding for the 2026 World Cup at Los Angeles’ historic Griffith Observatory. The FIFA boss spoke briefly about the ongoing negotiations with broadcasters in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and England for the rights to show the World Cup games taking place in two months in Australia and New Zealand.
CANNES, France (AP) — Ethan Hawke and his “Strange Way of Life" co-stars showed off their itchy trigger fingers on the second day of the Canne…
Dancers at a Los Angeles bar could soon become the only unionized group of strippers in the U.S. The Actors’ Equity Association labor union says that owners of the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in North Hollywood have withdrawn their opposition and agreed to recognize the strippers’ union. Dancers at the club have been seeking safer workplace conditions, better pay and health insurance, among other benefits for 15 months. But their unionization drive was stalled by objections and legal challenges from the club's management. The union announced this week that management had agreed to a settlement, and a formal vote count by the National Labor Relations Board has been set for Thursday.
A year and a half after the fatal shooting of its cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, the Alec Baldwin Western “Rust” is back on the market at the Cannes Film Festival, shopping for international buyers. Last month, “Rust” resumed shooting in Montana to finish the independently financed production that shut down following Hutchins’ death in October 2021. The Cannes film market is where “Rust” was first formed as a production in 2000. Goodfellas, a sales company formerly known as Wild Bunch International, is handling sales. “Rust” still lacks North American distribution.
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte on Wednesday signed into law a first-of-its kind bill that makes it illegal for TikTok to operate in the state. The law would have much more far-reaching effects than bans already in place in nearly half the states and the U.S. federal government that prohibit use of the app on government devices. The new rules are expected to face legal challenges. And experts say it will be extremely difficult to enforce, if not impossible. A TikTok spokesperson says the company has 200,000 users in Montana as well as 6,000 businesses who use the platform.
A federal grand jury has indicted a man who is suspected of stealing a pair of famous ruby red slippers worn by Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Federal prosecutors said Terry Martin was indicted Tuesday on one count of theft of major artwork. The Indictment alleges that in 2005, Martin stole an authentic pair of ruby slippers. The slippers were worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.” They were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The FBI recovered the slippers in 2018. The pair is one of four remaining pairs of red slippers Garland wore in the movie. Online records do not list an attorney for Martin.
CNN is filling a prime-time vacancy by appointing Kaitlan Collins to host the network's 9 p.m. Eastern hour. Collins was the moderator for last week's Donald Trump town hall on the network, but most of the criticism CNN received for that event was directed elsewhere. The former White House correspondent has had a meteoric rise at the news network. CNN has rotated guest anchors at that time for more than a year following the firing of Chris Cuomo. The network has struggled in the ratings over the past year, and last Friday slipped below the conservative network Newsmax in prime time.
A spokesperson for Prince Harry and his wife Meghan says the couple were involved in a car chase while being followed by photographers. The couple’s office says the pair and Meghan’s mother were followed for more than two hours by a half-dozen vehicles after leaving a charity event in New York on Tuesday. It said in a statement Wednesday that the chase “resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers.” It called the incident “near catastrophic.”
Appearing at the Cannes Film Festival the day after premiering his first film in three years, Johnny Depp said Wednesday that he has “no further need” for Hollywood. Depp made a rare public appearance to face questions from the press following the opening-night premiere of “Jeanne du Barry,” in which Depp plays King Louis XV. The film, directed by and starring Maiwann is Depp’s first film since a jury last year largely sided with him in his legal battle with his ex-wife, Amber Heard. Depp called the majority of what’s been written about him in recent years “fantastically, horrifically written fiction.”
YouTube is great at sending users videos that it thinks they'll like based on their interests. But new research shows that the site's powerful algorithms can also flood young users with violent and disturbing content. The nonprofit Tech Transparency Project created YouTube accounts mimicking the behavior of young boys with an interest in first-person shooter games. The site soon began recommending videos featuring graphic imagery of school shootings and tactical firearm training to users as young as nine. YouTube says it works hard to protect children, but the researchers say the material could traumatize vulnerable kids or send them down dark roads of radicalization and extremism.
Closing arguments are expected to begin Tuesday at the second rape trial of “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson. Masterson is charged with raping three women at his Los Angeles home between 2001 and 2003. Attorneys for both sides rested their cases Friday. Masterson’s first trial ended in a mistrial in December. Jurors were hopelessly deadlocked on all three counts. The 47-year-old actor has pleaded not guilty. He could get 45 years in prison if convicted on all three counts. Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller will be first to give a closing argument in court Tuesday morning.
A lawyer has asked a London judge to allow Prince Harry to challenge the government's denial of his request to pay for police protection when he visits the U.K. Attorney Shaheed Fatima said Tuesday that the government had exceeded its authority. The British government stopped providing security after Harry and his wife, Meghan, quit their royal duties and moved to California in 2020. He has said he doesn't feel safe bringing his young children to his home country. A government lawyer says it acted within its authority in denying the use of police as “bodyguards for the wealthy.”
Four major matchups for the coming college football season and the NBA draft airing on both ESPN and ABC were announced Tuesday by ESPN as part of its presentation to advertisers in New York. The Labor Day weekend game between Florida State and LSU will air on ABC for the second straight season. The night game on Sunday, Sept. 3, will take place this season in Orlando, Florida. Alabama will host Texas on Sept. 9 in a game airing on ESPN. ABC again will have the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma from Dallas on Oct. 7 as well as Notre Dame’s game at Clemson on Nov. 4.
Writer Salman Rushdie has made a public speech nine months after being stabbed and seriously injured onstage. He warned that freedom of expression in the West is under its most severe threat of his lifetime. Rushdie delivered a video message to the British Book Awards, where he was awarded the Freedom to Publish award on Monday evening. He said “freedom of expression, freedom to publish has not in my lifetime been under such threat in the countries of the West.” Rushdie was blinded in one eye when he was attacked at a literary festival in New York state in August. Rushdie spent years in hiding after Iran’s leader called for his death in 1989 over the alleged blasphemy of the novel “The Satanic Verses.”
President Joe Biden plans to mark Jewish American Heritage Month by highlighting his administration’s efforts to combat antisemitism at a White House reception that will feature performances from the stars of the Broadway revival of “Parade." While Biden plans to use his remarks to celebrate the contributions of Jewish Americans, he also will reflect on his decision to make another run for the White House that was shaped by a 2017 neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville. That's according to a White House official who requested anonymity to preview the president’s remarks. Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond, both 2023 Tony Award nominees for their performance in “Parade," are set to perform at the reception.
The Cannes red carpet springs to life again Tuesday as the 76th Cannes Film Festival gets underway with the premiere of the Louis XV period drama “Jeanne du Barry,” with Johnny Depp. This year’s Cannes is unspooling against the backdrop of labor unrest. Protests that have roiled France in recent months over changes to its pension system are planned to run during the festival, albeit at a distance from the festival’s main hub. Meanwhile, a strike by screenwriters in ongoing in Hollywood. But with a festival lined with some much-anticipated big-budget films, including “Indiana Jones and the Dial of the Destiny” and “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the party is sure to go on.
Striking members of the Writers Guild of America have said they will not picket next month’s Tony Award telecast, clearing a thorny issue facing show organizers and opening the door for some sort of Broadway razzle-dazzle. The union last week denied a request by Tony organizers to have a waiver for their June 11 glitzy live telecast, and it reiterated that in a statement late Monday. But the guild gave hope that some sort of Tony show might go on, saying organizers “are altering this year’s show to conform with specific requests from the WGA, and therefore the WGA will not be picketing the show.”
Sports Illustrated has chosen Martha Stewart as one of its 2023 swimsuit issue models. And in true Stewart fashion, her selection by the magazine comes with an extra something special. At 81, the businesswoman and media personality is the oldest model to pose for the cover of the swimsuit edition. In an Instagram post, Stewart said she hopes her cover will inspire people “to try new things" no matter what age. The magazine announced Monday the other cover models this year are recording artist Kim Petras, actor Megan Fox and model Brooks Nader. The issue hits newsstands May 18.
Ja Morant still had his endorsement deals Monday. His latest gun video on social media is costing him plenty in public relations currency, but he hasn't lost any money because of it. That could change any day. Once again, Morant is in limbo. He's awaiting the outcome of yet another NBA investigation into what could end up becoming a cataclysmic off-court decision. The clock is ticking with Game 1 of the NBA Finals is scheduled for June 1. Commissioner Adam Silver traditionally holds a news conference before the Finals. Morant's status will be a big topic as league officials gather information about the latest off-court issue involving Morant and possible firearms.
The NFL is taking another big step into streaming by putting one of its playoff games exclusively on a digital platform for the first time. The league and NBCUniversal announced that the Saturday night game on Wild Card weekend will be on Peacock. It will be preceded by a late afternoon playoff game on NBC and Peacock that will kick off at 4:30 p.m. ET. The Peacock game will also be broadcast on NBC stations in the markets of the two teams.
Savannah Bananas owner Jesse Cole has written a new book about his baseball team. “Banana Ball” explores the origins of the Georgia-based ballclub that became a national phenomenon with its unique and cheeky style of playing the game. Associated Press reviewer Mike Householder writes that “Banana Ball” provides an engaging look at the team’s founding and its “fans first, entertain always” philosophy, but it comes across as too much of a 200-odd-page advertisement. According to Householder, the book really scores when it focuses on Cole’s personal backstory as well as his early days of trying to build the Banana empire.
Kehinde Wiley wonders aloud if he’ll ever reach a career moment of such import and gravity as his famous 2018 portrait of Barack Obama, which has drawn crowds around the United States. But he’s continuing to expand his cultural influence — seemingly everywhere all at once. He currently has shows running on both coasts, at San Francisco’s de Young Museum and at the Sean Kelly gallery in New York. He is also building a second artist residency in Africa, this one in Nigeria to add to one in Senegal. And he has another big show heading for a Paris museum in the fall.
Illinois lawmakers aim to make their state what they say will be the first in the country to create protections for child social media influencers. A bill that was approved unanimously by the state Senate in March and is scheduled to be considered by the House this week would entitle child influencers under the age of 16 to a percentage of earnings based on how often they appear on video blogs or online content. Family-style vlogs can feature children as early as birth and recount milestones and family events. But experts say the commercialized “sharenthood” industry, which can earn content creators tens of thousands of dollars per brand deal, is underregulated and can even cause harm.
The 76th Cannes Film Festival opens Tuesday with the premiere of “Jeanne du Barry,” a historical drama starring Johnny Depp. Last year’s festival produced three Oscar best-picture nominees: “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Elvis” and the Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness." This year’s festival is headlined by a pair of marquee premieres: Martin Scorsese’s Osage Nation 1920s epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, and James Mangold’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” starring Harrison Ford in his final performance as the character. Ford and Michael Douglas will receive honorary Palme d'Ors during the festival, which runs through May 27.
Kelly Clarkson has responded to a Rolling Stone report accusing her daytime talk show of being a toxic workplace. Clarkson issued a statement on her Instagram page Saturday. She addressed the allegations after 11 current and former employees complained about being overworked and underpaid on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” and also called their work “traumatizing to their mental health” in the magazine’s Friday report. In the report, the anonymous employees called Clarkson “fantastic” but said show producers were “monsters” who made their lives “hell.” Clarkson says she loves her team. Clarkson also says that there’s “always room to grow” and that she wants the show to be the “best version of ourselves in any business.”
The grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest is taking place Saturday in Liverpool. This year’s theme is “united by music,” and the event fuses the soul of English port city that birthed The Beatles with the spirit of war-battered Ukraine. Britain is hosting the event on behalf of Ukraine, which won last year’s competition, and the show will include performances by Ukrainian musicians including 2022 Eurovision winner Kalush Orchestra. Swedish singer Loreen is bookies' favorite to win the competition, with Finnish party rapper Käärijä also a strong contender. Twenty-six countries are competing in the grand final, with the winner decide by a mix of jury and public votes.
Vatican Museum restorers are working to remove centuries of grime from the largest known bronze statue of the ancient world: the gilded Hercules Mastai Righetti. The 13-foot-tall (four-meter-tall) figure of the half-human Roman god has stood in the same niche for more than 150 years. It has barely garnered notice among other antiquities because of the dark coating it had acquired. Its discovery in 1864 made global headlines. The colossal Hercules was revered in its own day too because it had been struck by lightning. The Romans believed that being struck by lightning imbued the statue with divinity. The Vatican experts working to bring back its sheen say the statue is glorious. Museum-goers will be able to decide for themselves come December.
LIVERPOOL, England. (AP) — The Eurovision Song Contest field has been narrowed to the 26 acts who will sing their hearts out Saturday for a ch…
For decades, a giant, inflatable rat with beady eyes, sharp teeth and a pustule-covered belly has been looming over union protests, drawing attention to construction sites or buildings with labor disputes. Over the decades, Scabby the Rat has become an icon at the site of labor disputes and weathered multiple legal challenges. Now Scabby's challenge is staying relevant in the age of new technology and social media. Scabby has a Facebook page, and QR codes that give people information about campaigns. But younger people often don’t always know what the rat symbolizes.
Davis Guggenheim’s “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movies" is a glossy, entertaining and often affecting documentary about one of Hollywood's most likable stars. In it, Fox recounts his life, career and arduous battle with Parkinson’s disease, with which he was diagnosed at age 29. Along with bits of reenactment, Guggenheim uses clips of Fox’s film and TV series to illustrate Fox's off-screen life. But the most memorable images in “Still” are those of a present-day Fox in frame, speaking straight into the camera, AP Film Writer Jake Coyle writes in his review. “Still” debuts Friday on Apple TV+.
Married with kids, the Jonas Brothers are all about love on their new album ‘The Album," where every lyric hides a nudge to their homes. The brother pop trio bring that carefree vibe they are known for with experimentation into new genres that make it more special and fresh. The Associated Press’ Martina Rebecca Inchingolo writes in a review that the brothers, who broke hearts all over the world as they said, ‘I do,’ reflect in the album about fatherhood and sibling dynamics. Jonas Brothers’ “The Album” is a celebration of love in all its forms, The album is out now.
Elon Musk is welcoming a veteran ad executive to the helm of Twitter. He says he has hired Linda Yaccarino as the social media site's new CEO. Yaccarino has worked as an advertising executive for decades. She came to NBCUniversal in 2011 and was most recently chairman, advertising and client partnerships. There, she oversaw all market strategy and advertising revenue, which totaled nearly $10 billion, for NBCUniversal’s entire portfolio of broadcast, cable and digital assets. Before that, she held a variety of roles at Turner Broadcasting System from 1996 to 2011, including executive vice president and chief operating officer.
After two decades in the spotlight, the Jonas Brothers are still chasing butterflies. Joe, Kevin and Nick Jonas are releasing their sixth studio record “The Album” on Friday, before embarking on an U.S. tour in August. Nick says the band of brothers are putting themselves in new positions so they can feel “butterflies and excitement” before stepping onstage. Their tour will kick off at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 12. With young families, they're “quicker to return home” and also plan to prioritize mental health to avoid burnout.
Dutton and Wrenlee are on the rise but they’re no match for champs Liam and Olivia as the top baby names in the U.S. last year. The Social Security Administration released the annual list Friday. The agency tracks baby names in each state based on applications for Social Security cards, with names dating to 1880. It’s Liam’s sixth straight year as No. 1. Olivia has reigned since the name unseated Emma four years ago. Emma is No. 2. Coming in third for girls’ names is Charlotte. She's followed by Amelia, Sophia, Isabella, Ava, Mia, Evelyn and Luna. For boys’ names, Liam is followed by Noah, Oliver, James, Elijah, William, Henry, Lucas, Benjamin and Theodore.
Aaron Rodgers nearly upended the NFL schedule two years ago when he told some within the Green Bay Packers organization that he didn’t want to return to the team. For the sake and sanity of those in the league’s scheduling department, cooler heads prevailed. Rodgers was on the move during this offseason with his trade to the New York Jets, but it was planned well enough in advance that the league and its network partners could get in their requests. The Jets will make six prime-time appearances and have four games in the Sunday afternoon late window.
The 67th Eurovision Song Contest will soon reach its climax with a grand final broadcast live from Liverpool. There will be catchy choruses, a kaleidoscope of costumes and tributes to the spirit of Ukraine, which won last year's competition. Twenty-six countries have made it to Saturday’s final at the Liverpool Arena. Each competing act must sing live and stick to a three-minute limit, but otherwise is free to create its own staging. After all the acts have performed, viewers in participating nations can vote for their favorite song. National juries of music industry professionals also points to their favorites. The song with the most points wins — and getting the dreaded “nul points” is considered a national embarassment.
The Eurovision Song Contest has barred President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from addressing the final of the pan-continental music competition. He had been expected to use a video address on Saturday to urge the world continue its support for Ukraine’s fight to repel Russian invasion. The European Broadcasting Union said that letting Zelenskyy participate would breach “the nonpolitical nature of the event.” Overtly political lyrics, signs and symbols are banned at Eurovision, but politics can’t be shut out entirely. Russia was banned from the contest after it invaded Ukraine last year. Last year’s contest was won by Ukraine, and the U.K. has stepped in to host on its behalf.
May 5-11, 2023
This week’s new entertainment releases include an album from Jonas Brothers, Nintendo releasing a fresh Legend of Zelda video game and PBS’ “Great Performances” celebrating 50 years of Broadway with a starry concert. You can enjoy both sides of the Ben Affleck-Jennifer Lopez marriage by watching his “Air” on Prime Video and her thriller "The Mother” on Netflix. Plus, the use of artificial intelligence has become a hot topic and is the focus of a new limited FBI-focused series called “Class of ’09” coming to FX on Hulu starring Brian Tyree Henry and Kate Mara.
CNN is facing a backlash over its town hall featuring former President Donald Trump, an event that swiftly turned chaotic in a stark display of the tightrope facing journalists covering a leading 2024 Republican candidate who refuses to play by the rules. The town hall Wednesday was the first major television event of the 2024 presidential campaign, and CNN defended its decision to hold it as a chance to put Trump in front of a wider audience, outside of the conservative media bubble he has largely kept to since early in his presidency. Critics say the event staged in front of Republicans and unaffiliated voters expected to vote in the GOP primary instead turned into a Trump campaign rally.
“It Ain’t Over” aims to elevate Yogi Berra's playing career alongside his persona as a cultural icon. The 98-minute Sony Pictures Classics documentary premiered last June at the Tribeca Festival and in theaters in the New York tri-state area and Los Angeles on Friday, which would have been his 98th birthday. Producer Peter Sobiloff got the idea after seeing "Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” the documentary on Fred Rogers in 2018 and attending the Yogi Berra Museum Celebrity Golf Classic the following day. Lindsay Berra, Yogi's granddaughter, is executive producer and the film's narrator.
A crop of new horror movies explores a classic scary theme: Mommy. Movies ranging from the new “Infinity Pool” and “Evil Dead Rise” to last year's “Barbarian” get scares out of their characters' mother complexes. Experts say the horror genre is well-suited to grappling with such issues because it is at its core primal. And it doesn't get much more primal or universal than mother-child relationships. Perhaps the most famous warped maternal bond in film was in Alfred Hitchcock's “Psycho" from 1960. And long before film, there was Mary Shelley's seminal horror story from 1818, “Frankenstein.”
Fans of swimming, gymnastics and track & field can rejoice. For the first time in a European Olympics, those event will be televised live on network television in the United States. NBC will have at least nine hours of weekday daytime coverage, expanding to at least 11 hours on weekends. With Paris six hours ahead of New York, the marquee finals will air live in the morning or late afternoon. NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service will have every sport and event live, including all 329 medal events.
Sunderland is within reach of a return to the Premier League after a chaotic and often farcical six years during which the club has been the subject of a Netflix documentary. “Sunderland ’Til I Die" is a fly-on-the-wall show charting the team's journey after relegation from England's top division in 2017. Sunderland has since been demoted to the third tier in a dark period for the club that has been played out in front of a global audience. It got back into the second-tier Championship for this season and has now qualified for the end-of-season playoffs starting Saturday. Sunderland is one of four teams looking to get promoted to the Premier League.
“The Queen’s Gambit” is playing out in real life in Maine, where a custodian is coaching his schools’ chess teams to national acclaim. Part-time chess coach and full-time custodian David Bishop led his elementary and middle school teams to state championship titles this year, drawing comparisons to the Netflix series about a chess prodigy inspired by a janitor. Bishop’s coaching success follows a happy twist of fate. He took the school's custodial job after taking an early retirement package at age 50. He didn't even know about the chess club. Now, members of the team say chess has taught them to to be strategic and to consider the ramifications of decisions.
Jacklyn Zeman, who for 45 years played Bobbie Spencer on ABC's ‘General Hospital" has died at 70. Her family confirmed the news Wednesday, saying she died after a short battle with cancer. Zeman earned four Daytime Emmy Award nominations for her portrayal of Bobbie, a woman who projects a big heart and bubbly personality but is not afraid to speak her mind and stand up for herself and others. Zeman also had a role on the crime-drama “The Bay” where she earned a fourth Daytime Emmy nod. She is survived by two daughters.
It’ll be a new experience for Garth Brooks when he steps onto the stage Thursday at the Academy of Country Music Awards — it’ll be his first time hosting an awards show. Co-host Dolly Parton will be there to help him out if he needs it — not that either showed any worry in a recent interview. Parton says they have a script, but she doesn't expect to stick to it. Singer-songwriter HARDY enters Thursday’s show as the leading nominee, up for seven trophies including two in the song of the year category. The show begins at 8 p.m. Eastern and will stream on Amazon Prime.
Tens of thousands of fans have descended upon the Swedish capital of Stockholm to celebrate the opening show of Beyoncé’s new world tour. “Renaissance" is the superstar’s first solo tour since 2016 and shares the namesake of her 2022 dance-centric album. The success of the album landed Beyoncé at the top of the Grammy throne as the ceremony’s most decorated artist in history. Fans who had complained about the lack of music videos for “Renaissance” hits were in for a treat Wednesday. Video projections and animations took center stage. Some moments still felt intimate despite the impressive scale of the stage set. Beyoncé expressed heartfelt gratitude to fans for traveling from afar to witness her perform.
Multiple celebrities are in the mix for a minority ownership stake in the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. Experts say the prospect would lift the team’s profile to new heights. It is also seen as a safe way for stars to park their money. Vancouver-born actor Ryan Reynolds and rapper Snoop Dogg have both confirmed their interest, while Toronto recording artist The Weeknd has reportedly thrown his hat into the ring. For film or music stars interested in owning a sports team, the opportunity simply doesn’t come around often. The deadline for interested groups to submit non-binding offers is May 15.
The pioneering mommy blogger Heather Armstrong, known as Dooce to fans, has died at home in Salt Lake City. She was 47. Her live-in partner, Pete Ashdown, confirmed her death by suicide. He said he found her Tuesday night. Armstrong had laid bare her struggles as a mother and her battles with depression and alcoholism on her site, Dooce.com, and social media. Ashdown told The Associated Press that Armstrong had been sober for more than 18 months but had recently relapsed, causing her to spiral. She was one of the first and most popular mommy bloggers with a loyal following and pointed critics who objected to her style. Armstrong wrote frankly about her children, relationships and other challenges.
Almost everyone knows the backstory of the iPhone, a breakthrough that continues to reshape culture 16 years after late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs introduced the device to the world. But what's unforgotten is the must-have gadget that came before Jobs unveiled the iPhone in 2007. It was the BlackBerry, a device so addictive that it was nicknamed the “CrackBerry.” Now the new film, “BlackBerry,” gives audiences time to learn more about the devices legacy and the two amiable but bumbling nerds who teamed up with a hard-nosed, profane business executive to plant the seeds for the mobile computing revolution.
A MTV special on mental health that was expected to feature Vice President Kamala Harris next week has been postponed. That word comes from Harris' her office. And a person familiar with the decision says Harris chose not to travel to the Los Angeles-area event because that would have been seen as crossing the picket line for striking Hollywood writers. That’s a political nonstarter for Democrats who rely on union support. The person was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity about the decision to postpone MTV’s Mental Health Action Day Conversation. President Joe Biden has called for a “fair deal” for writers.
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