Today: September 20, 2024
Today: September 20, 2024

Arts

Arts

U.N. group says people abused by late Japanese boy band producer deserve apologies and compensation

The men who came forward to allege they were sexually abused as teenagers by Japanese boy band producer Johnny Kitagawa now have a powerful listener: the United Nations. Damilola Olawuyi, chair of the U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights, told reporters Friday the number of victims may total several hundred, and he accused Japan’s mainstream media of standing silent about the alleged abuse for decades. Olawuyi raised serious questions about the sincerity of the response from the talent agency Kitagawa founded, Johnny & Associates. He urged other entertainment industry players to carry out a “transparent

August 04, 2023
U.N. group says people abused by late Japanese boy band producer deserve apologies and compensation
Arts

Randall Park adapts a favorite graphic novel for his feature debut 'Shortcomings'

Randall Park was a struggling actor when he first encountered Adrian Tomine’s graphic novel “Shortcomings” in 2007. The story focused on a twentysomething Japanese American man named Ben, who is trying to find himself in the Bay Area along with his girlfriend Miko and best friend Alice, who is a lesbian. They are all flawed, complex and figuring things out, sometimes inelegantly. Park was obsessed. “I remember thinking, gosh this would make an amazing movie,” Park said in an interview earlier this year during the Sundance Film Festival. “And in my dreams it was like,

August 04, 2023
Randall Park adapts a favorite graphic novel for his feature debut 'Shortcomings'
Arts

U.S. publishing executive dies in a boat crash off Italy's Amalfi Coast

A U.S. publishing executive died in a boating accident off Italy’s Amalfi Coast, her company said Friday. Adrienne Vaughan, 45, was president of Bloomsbury Publishing’s U.S. branch, which counts writers ranging from bestselling novelists Sarah J. Maas and Susanna Clarke to historian Mark Kurlansky among its roster of authors. A Bloomsbury book, “Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South,” by the late Winfred Rembert (as told to Erin I. Kelly), won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 2022. Vaughan, who had a master’s degree in business from New York University, had

August 04, 2023
U.S. publishing executive dies in a boat crash off Italy's Amalfi Coast
Arts

What to know ahead of Tory Lanez's sentencing in Megan Thee Stallion's shooting

Three years have passed since hip-hop superstar Megan Thee Stallion was shot multiple times by rapper Tory Lanez in Los Angeles following a pool party at the home of Kylie Jenner. On Monday, Lanez is scheduled to be sentenced, following his December conviction on three felony charges. Here’s what you need to know about the case so far. Who are the key figures in the case? Tory Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, is a Canadian artist who began releasing mixtapes in 2009 and saw a steady rise in popularity, moving on to major-label albums.

August 04, 2023
What to know ahead of Tory Lanez's sentencing in Megan Thee Stallion's shooting
Arts

Movie weapons supervisor waives right to preliminary hearing in fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin

The woman who was overseeing the use of weapons on the movie set where Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer agreed Friday to forgo a preliminary hearing that would have provided court testimony from dozens of people, including eyewitnesses to the shooting. Arizona-based armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, in a court filing, waived her right to a courtroom review of evidence on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western movie “Rust.” Gutierrez-Reed also waived her right to a review of charges by a grand jury. Defense attorney

August 04, 2023
Movie weapons supervisor waives right to preliminary hearing in fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin
Arts

Star soprano Anna Netrebko sues Met Opera over its decision to cut ties over Russia-Ukraine war

Soprano Anna Netrebko, once among the Metropolitan Opera’s biggest box office draws, sued the company and general manager Peter Gelb on Friday, alleging defamation, breach of contract and other violations related to the institution’s decision to drop her following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, asks for at least $360,000 in damages for lost performance and rehearsal fees. Netrebko claims the Met caused ”severe mental anguish and emotional distress” that included “depression, humiliation, embarrassment, stress and anxiety, and emotional pain and suffering.” The Met dropped the Russian soprano from future engagements shortly after

August 04, 2023
Star soprano Anna Netrebko sues Met Opera over its decision to cut ties over Russia-Ukraine war
Arts

Q&A: Keith Urban talks 2024 album, Vegas residency, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

On Thursday, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame announced that Keith Urban was among its class of 2023 inductees. The news arrived live from Columbia Studio A, just a block and a half from where the country music superstar stayed when he first landed in the Music City from Australia in 1989, hoping to make a name for himself. “It’s truly surreal,” Keith Urban told The Associated Press. He said that if someone told him, then, that he would one day be inducted in the hall, “I just wouldn’t have believed it.” Urban spoke to AP

August 04, 2023
Q&A: Keith Urban talks 2024 album, Vegas residency, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
Arts

Actor Mark Margolis, murderous drug kingpin on 'Breaking Bad' and 'Better Call Saul,' dies at 83

Emmy-nominated actor Mark Margolis, who played murderous former drug kingpin Hector Salamanca in “Breaking Bad” and then in the prequel “Better Call Saul,” has died at age 83. The actor died at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City following a short illness, according to a statement from his son, Morgan Margolis. Margolis was nominated for an Emmy in 2012 for “Breaking Bad,” for outstanding guest actor, as Salamanca, the elderly don of his drug clan who was unable to speak or walk due to a stroke. Much of his character’s backstory later played out on

August 04, 2023
Actor Mark Margolis, murderous drug kingpin on 'Breaking Bad' and 'Better Call Saul,' dies at 83
Arts

Driver says he considered Treat Williams a friend and charges in crash are not warranted

A driver accused of causing a crash that killed Treat Williams knew the actor and considered him a friend but denied wrongdoing and said charges are not warranted. Ryan Koss, the managing creative director of the Dorset Theatre Festival in Vermont, said he knew Williams for years as a member of the tight-knit community, as well as a fellow theater member. He said he was devastated by Williams’ death and offered his “sincerest condolences” to the actor’s family. “I considered him a friend,” Koss said. Koss, 35, of Dorset, issued a statement Friday evening, three days

August 05, 2023
Driver says he considered Treat Williams a friend and charges in crash are not warranted
Arts

Opera singer David Daniels and his husband plead guilty to sexual assault

Renowned opera singer David Daniels and his husband have pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting another singer in Houston. Daniels, 57, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Scott Walters, 40, entered the pleas Friday after a jury was assembled for the trial of the pair on first-degree felony charges of aggravated sexual assault. Both pleaded guilty to sexual assault of an adult, a second-degree felony, and were sentenced to eight years’ probation and required to register as sex offenders. Daniels, Walters and their attorney declined to comment following the hearing. Daniels and Walters were charged in 2019 when Samuel

August 05, 2023
Opera singer David Daniels and his husband plead guilty to sexual assault
Arts

‘Barbie’ joins $1 billion club, breaks another record for female directors

Greta Gerwig should be feeling closer to fine these days. In just three weeks in theaters, “Barbie” is set to sail past $1 billion in global ticket sales, breaking a record for female directors that was previously held by Patty Jenkins, who helmed “Wonder Woman.” “Barbie,” which Gerwig directed and co-wrote, added another $53 million from 4,178 North American locations this weekend according to studio estimates on Sunday. The Margot Robbie-led and produced film has been comfortably seated in first place for three weeks and it’s hardly finished yet. Warner Bros. said the film will cross $1 billion before the

August 06, 2023
‘Barbie’ joins $1 billion club, breaks another record for female directors
Arts

Dungeons & Dragons tells illustrators to stop using AI to generate artwork for fantasy franchise

The Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game franchise says it won’t allow artists to use artificial intelligence technology to draw its cast of sorcerers, druids and other characters and scenery. D&D art is supposed to be fanciful. But at least one ax-wielding giant seemed too weird for some fans, leading them to take to social media to question if it was human-made. Hasbro-owned D&D Beyond, which makes online tools and other companion content for the franchise, said it didn’t know until Saturday that an illustrator it has worked with for nearly a decade used AI to create commissioned artwork for an

August 06, 2023
Dungeons & Dragons tells illustrators to stop using AI to generate artwork for fantasy franchise
Arts

Tory Lanez to be sentenced for shooting Megan Thee Stallion

Rapper Tory Lanez could get a long prison term at his expected sentencing Monday after f elony convictions for shooting and wounding hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion in the feet. Los Angeles prosecutors are asking a judge to hand down a 13-year sentence to the 31-year-old Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson. They wrote in a sentencing memorandum that along with the crimes for which he was convicted, Lanez has re-traumatized Megan with social media posts about the case that emboldened many among his more than 2 million followers to attack her. Megan may appear

August 07, 2023
Tory Lanez to be sentenced for shooting Megan Thee Stallion
Arts

Queen Latifah, Chuck D and more rap legends on 'Rapper's Delight' and their early hip-hop influences

Remember the first rap song you heard? Some of your favorite rappers and DJs certainly do. While hip-hop celebrates 50 years of life, The Associated Press asked some of the genre’s most popular artists to recall their first memory of hearing rap and how the moment resonated with them. In interviews with more than two dozen hip-hop legends, Queen Latifah Chuck D, Method Man, E-40 and eight others cited The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” as the first rap song they heard. But not all were hooked on the new musical style by that track, and their

August 07, 2023
Queen Latifah, Chuck D and more rap legends on 'Rapper's Delight' and their early hip-hop influences
Arts

From Killer Mike to Fat Joe, hip-hop stars talk about how first rap song resonated with them

Remember the first rap song you heard? Some of your favorite rappers and DJs do. While hip-hop celebrates 50 years of life, The Associated Press asked some of the genre’s most popular artists — including Killer Mike, JT of City Girls, King Combs and Fat Joe — to recall their first memory of hearing a rap song and how it resonated with them. In the second installment of a two part series, the AP highlights the stars who connected with rap music through a song other than “Rapper’s Delight,” the 1979 hit that was the entry

August 07, 2023
From Killer Mike to Fat Joe, hip-hop stars talk about how first rap song resonated with them
Arts

Decoding the Mystery: The Persistent Allure of Deadly Mothers and Wives

A family photo of Andrea Yates, her husband and four of their five children. Yates killed all five by drowning them in a bathtub in 2001. In March 2023, a Utah woman named Kouri Richins published a children’s book titled “Are You With Me?” which she characterized as an effort to help her three young sons process the loss of their father, who had died suddenly the previous year. Presenting herself as a concerned mother and grieving widow, she was interviewed on “Good Things Utah” in April 2023. A few weeks later, on May 8, 2023, Richins was arrested and

August 07, 2023
Decoding the Mystery: The Persistent Allure of Deadly Mothers and Wives
Arts

CBS game show 'Superfan' celebrates musicians like Shania Twain, Kelsea Ballerini and Pitbull

CBS’ latest game show doesn’t ask its contestants to have any skills — no need to sing, dance, cook or pull a rabbit out of a hat. All it asks from its competitors is adoration — lots of it. “Superfan,” which premieres Wednesday, gathers one musical act and their fans each week into a studio and gradually whittles the contestants down to two, giving viewers the final say on who will be crowned the ultimate superfan. “There’s too many talent shows. It’s too competitive. Some of us are not good at anything except loving the artist

August 07, 2023
CBS game show 'Superfan' celebrates musicians like Shania Twain, Kelsea Ballerini and Pitbull
Arts

William Friedkin, Oscar-winning director of 'The French Connection' and The Exorcist,' dead at 87

William Friedkin, the Oscar winning director who became a top filmmaker in his 30s with the gripping “The French Connection” and the horrifying “The Exorcist” and struggled in the following decades to match his early success has died. He was 87. Friedkin, who won the best director Oscar for “The French Connection,” died Monday in Los Angeles, his wife, producer and former studio head Sherry Lansing told The Hollywood Reporter. The movie, based on a true story, deals with the efforts of maverick New York City police Detective James “Popeye” Doyle to track down Frenchman Fernando

August 07, 2023
William Friedkin, Oscar-winning director of 'The French Connection' and The Exorcist,' dead at 87
Arts

Simon & Schuster purchased by private equity firm KKR for $1.62 billion

Simon & Schuster has been sold to the private equity firm KKR, months after a federal judge blocked its purchase by rival publisher Penguin Random House because of concerns that competition would shrink the book market. An executive for KKR is calling the deal a chance to work with “one of the most effective” book publishers. The private equity giant will buy Simon & Schuster for $1.62 billion in cash, said Paramount Global, the parent company of the storied publishing house. Simon & Schuster will operate as a standalone entity, under the leadership of CEO Jonathan

August 07, 2023
Simon & Schuster purchased by private equity firm KKR for $1.62 billion
Arts

K-pop star Suga becomes 3rd BTS member to begin military service in South Korea

Following his debut solo tour earlier this year, Suga, the K-pop superstar rapper/singer/songwriter, has become the third member of BTS to begin South Korea’s compulsory military service. “We would like to inform our fans that SUGA has initiated the military enlistment process by applying for the termination of his enlistment postponement,” Big Hit Music said in a statement. “We ask you for your continued love and support for SUGA until he completes his military service and safely returns. Our company will spare no effort in providing support for our artist.” In South Korea, all able-bodied men

August 08, 2023
K-pop star Suga becomes 3rd BTS member to begin military service in South Korea
Arts

Rapper Tory Lanez is expected to be sentenced on day two of hearing in Megan Thee Stallion shooting

Rapper Tory Lanez is expected to be sentenced on Tuesday for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the feet three years ago, which the star says has left her struggling emotionally ever since. “Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” Megan said in a statement read by Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta during Monday’s all-day session. “Slowly but surely, I’m healing and coming back, but I will never be the same.” The hip-hop star, who testified during the trial, said she struggled with whether

August 08, 2023
Rapper Tory Lanez is expected to be sentenced on day two of hearing in Megan Thee Stallion shooting
Arts

Mourners gather in Ireland to pay their respects to singer Sinead O'Connor

Fans are gathering in singer Sinead O’Connor’s former hometown in Ireland to say goodbye ahead of her funeral. O’Connor’s family invited the public to line the waterfront in Bray on Tuesday as her funeral procession passes by. “Sinead loved living in Bray and the people in it,” a statement issued by her family said. “With this procession, her family would like to acknowledge the outpouring of love for her from the people of Wicklow (county) and beyond, since she left last week to go to another place.” Fans left handwritten notes outside her former home, thanking her

August 08, 2023
Mourners gather in Ireland to pay their respects to singer Sinead O'Connor
Arts

Louis Cato, TV late night bandleader, offers 'Reflections,' a new album of 'laid bare, honest' songs

Musician and producer Jack DeBoe recalls the time many years ago when he fully grasped the sheer musical ability of his new friend, Louis Cato. DeBoe and Cato were playing a gig in Boston when DeBoe got up from his drum kit for a break. Cato, playing bass, soon sat down at the drums, continued to play the bass with his left hand, put a drumstick in his right hand to hit the cymbals and drums and used his feet to play the kick and the high hat. Then he sang a song. He wasn’t showing

August 08, 2023
Louis Cato, TV late night bandleader, offers 'Reflections,' a new album of 'laid bare, honest' songs
Arts

Winfrey, Maddow and Schwarzenegger among those helping NYC's 92nd Street Y mark 150th anniversary

Oprah Winfrey, Rachel Maddow and Arnold Schwarzenegger will be among those appearing this fall at the 92nd Street Y, a New York City cultural institution and community center marking its 150th anniversary. Winfrey will appear with co-author Arthur C. Brooks to discuss their new book, “Building the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier,” and Maddow will examine the roots of far-right extremism in the U.S., the subject of her upcoming book “Prequel.” Schwarzenegger will give a talk about his book “Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life.” Founded in 1874 as the Young

August 08, 2023
Winfrey, Maddow and Schwarzenegger among those helping NYC's 92nd Street Y mark 150th anniversary
Arts

Taylor Swift and SZA lead 2023 MTV Video Music Award nominations

Taylor Swift may soon become the most awarded artist in MTV Video Music Awards history. She leads the 2023 nominations with eight — seven for her “Anti-Hero” music video and a nod in the artist of the year category — followed by SZA, who has six, MTV announced on Tuesday. Swift currently has 14 VMAs to her name, placing her just behind Madonna, who has 20 awards, and Beyoncé, who has 16. Beyoncé is also nominated for Artist of the Year. Doja Cat, Kim Petras, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, Olivia Rodrigo and Sam Smith are tied

August 08, 2023
Taylor Swift and SZA lead 2023 MTV Video Music Award nominations

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