'Everything' wins best picture, is everywhere at Oscars
The metaphysical multiverse comedy “Everything Everywhere All at Once” wrapped its hot dog fingers around Hollywood’s top prize Sunday, winning best picture at the 95th Academy Awards, along with awards for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Patti Smith returns to singing live with Brooklyn concert
CORRECTS DAY OF CONCERT - FILE - Patti Smith attends a special screening of "Pavarotti" at the iPic Theater in New York on May 28, 2019. Smith performed six songs as well as read poetry and excerpts from her book “Just Kids” in the Beaux-Arts Court at the museum, her voice bouncing off the skylight 60 feet above. It was a concert to also honor museum workers and drew just under 50 people, all socially distanced in widely spaced chairs. The Smith concert came on the same day in 1989 that Mapplethorpe died at age 42. It also marked the one-year anniversary of when Smith last performed live, at The Fillmore in San Francisco.
33 years later, Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall return to Zamunda
NEW YORK – When Eddie Murphy made the original “Coming to America,” he was, almost indisputably, the funniest man in America. “Now I take nothing for granted and appreciate everything.”Thirty-three years after “Coming to America,” Murphy and Hall have returned to Zamunda. At the barbershop, where Murphy and Hall also reprise their characters, the conversation bounces from Teslas to transgender people. Before making “Black Panther,” Murphy has said Ryan Coogler approached him about a “Coming to America” sequel. Ruth E. Carter designed the costumes of both “Black Panther” and “Coming 2 America.” Both were shot in Atlanta.
'Saturday Night Live' recreates debate in 46th season opener
(Will Heath/NBC via AP)LOS ANGELES – “Saturday Night Live” went political with a parody of this week’s presidential debate, Chris Rock's jab at President Donald Trump and Megan Thee Stallion's message supporting Black people during her performance. The NBC late-night sketch series on Saturday night jumped into the reenactment of the recent debate between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. The series opened its 46th season, returning to the studio this week after the coronavirus pandemic halted production. Alec Baldwin returned to play Trump before the president’s COVID diagnosis, while Jim Carrey made his feature debut as Biden. “President Trump is in the hospital from COVID, and I just want to say that my heart goes out to COVID,” he joked.
Zemeckis’ ‘The Witches’ heads to HBO Max for Halloween
The Robert Zemeckis adaptation of “Roald Dahl’s The Witches” has found a new home on HBO Max this month just in time for Halloween. Warner Bros. said Friday that “The Witches” will debut on the subscription streaming service, owned by parent company WarnerMedia, on Oct. 22. Dahl’s 1983 novel about an orphaned boy who discovers a coven of witches that hate children was previously adapted for the big screen in 1990 by director Nicolas Roeg. It starred Angelica Huston, Mai Zetterling and Rowan Atkinson and was a box office flop, despite its critical acclaim. This new version has actor Jahzir Bruno playing the boy who must try to stop the witches from turning the world's children into mice.
The only debate moderator to return, Fox's Wallace preps
NEW YORK – Four years ago when he first moderated a general election presidential debate, Chris Wallace was firm and funny in trying to get Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to stop talking simultaneously. Wallace declined an interview request through Fox but his work offers clues about how he will approach the assignment. Trump has tweeted, more than once, that Chris will “never be his father.”Mike Wallace, it should be noted, never moderated a presidential debate. During interviews with Trump this summer, Wallace and Jonathan Swan of Axios proved particularly adept at challenging presidential misstatements. “I do not believe it is my job to be a truth squad,” Wallace told a Fox News colleague before the 2016 debate.
DeGeneres vows candor as clouded talk show charts its return
LOS ANGELES Ellen DeGeneres says she'll be ready to talk when her daytime show returns this month after a staff shake-up prompted by allegations of a toxic workplace. And, yes, were gonna talk about it, DeGeneres said in a statement announcing the show's Sept. 21 start of its 18th season. Tiffany Haddish will join DeGeneres for the kick-off episode, with The Ellen DeGeneres Show to be taped at Warner Bros. minus an in-studio audience, which is commonplace during the pandemic. Stephen tWitch Boss, a longtime guest DJ on the show and among those who have publicly supported DeGeneres, will guest host some fall episodes. Last month, three of the show's producers exited amid allegations of a dysfunctional workplace that harbored misbehavior including sexual misconduct and racially insensitive remarks.
Fey asks to pull '30 Rock' episodes that featured blackface
NEW YORK At the request of co-creator Tina Fey, four episodes of the comedy 30 Rock are being removed from circulation because they featured characters performing in blackface. The series aired on NBC from 2006 to 2013, but episodes are still being shown in television syndication and on streaming services including Hulu, Amazon Prime, iTunes and Peacock. Two of the four eliminated 30 Rock episodes originally aired in 2010, with the others first shown in 2008 and 2010. They include the East Coast version of an episode first shown live. Fallon, who did not appear in such makeup on 30 Rock, apologized last month after online circulation of an earlier Saturday Night Live skit where he wore blackface to impersonate Chris Rock.
Shakira, Dwayne Johnson highlight coronavirus equity concert
NEW YORK Dwayne Johnson will host and Shakira, Miley Cyrus and Jennifer Hudson will perform on a globally broadcast concert calling on world leaders to make coronavirus tests and treatment available and equitable for all. The advocacy organization Global Citizen and the European Commission announced Monday that Global Goal: Unite for Our Future The Concert will air on June 27. The concert will also feature appearances from Billy Porter, Charlize Theron, Chris Rock, Kerry Washington, Salma Hayek and David Beckham. It will be broadcast on NBC in the U.S. and other television stations, radio stations, websites and streaming outlets around the world. The event aims to lift up the global community that is tackling equitable access to healthcare, and other enormous injustices facing our world, Johnson said in a statement.
Fallon apologizes for using blackface in 20-year-old skit
According to Variety, it was first posted on Twitter by a user named chefboyohdear, and showed Fallon, as Rock, appearing on a talk show. Fallon tweeted that it was a terrible decision to impersonate Rock, also a former Saturday Night Live cast member. I am very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive decision and thank all of you for holding me accountable, the late-night star wrote. The history of minstrel shows and movies where white performers donned blackface to mock blacks has made its use considered offensive today. Sarah Silverman used blackface for a sketch on her Comedy Central show in 2007, a decision she later said she was horrified by.
Tribute broadcast planned for late music exec Andre Harrell
NEW YORK A tribute to Andre Harrell, the influential music executive who discovered Sean Diddy Combs and died earlier this month, will air Sunday. It will air commercial free on BET, BET Jams, BET Soul and REVOLT TV, where Harrell served as vice chairman. Diddy often credits Harrell with giving him the tools to find success in music and life, even saying Harrell was like a father figure to him. In 1993, Harrell let go of Diddy, who then launched his uber-successful Bad Boy Records. Diddy posted multiple tributes to Harrell on social media following his death.