News

Cannes Power Outage Disrupts City, Festival Continues

Cannes got its own cliff-hanger ending on Saturday, the final day of the 78th film festival, when a power outage, apparently caused by deliberate sabotage, shut down the power grid serving the city and much of the surrounding region. From 10:00 am on, the outage disrupted screenings, forced cafes and restaurants to close, or shift to cash-only payments, and even caused chaos on the streets as traffic lights winked off. The blackout only caused minor disruption at the Palais, the festival headquarters, with generators kicking in to restore power. The press conference for Kelly Reichardt’s Mastermind, with the director and cast members Josh O’Connor and Paul Mescal, went ahead as planned at 10.15 am local time. In a statement, the festival said the Palais’ independent power supply meant that tonight’s closing ceremony would not be affected. The blackout hit the city...

Continue reading

Music

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Team Goes Inside That Tragic One-Two Punch of Penultimate Episode

There’s no such thing as a good Commander. The Handmaid’s Tale‘s writers have been passing along that message to viewers throughout the sixth and final season of the Hulu series. When Nick (Max Minghella) shocked his lover June (Elisabeth Moss) with the Jezebel’s betrayal, her husband Luke (O-T Fagbenle) argued it’s because he’s a Nazi. When Wharton (Josh Charles) surprised his new wife with a handmaid on their wedding night, Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) remembered June’s warning: Wharton can’t be a good man, because he’s a man of Gilead. Yet killing three High Commanders is still a shocking final-season surprise: In the penultimate episode, titled “Execution” (written by co-showrunner Eric Tuchman and directed by star Elisabeth Moss), Nick Blaine, Joseph Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) and Gabriel Wharton all perished. Lawrence was planning to plant an altitude-triggered bomb on a plane of High Commanders and...

Continue reading

Music

Michelle Williams Recalls Living With Ryan Gosling During ‘Blue Valentine’ Filming: “I Don’t Know if Anyone Could Work Like That Again”

Michelle Williams is looking back on her time filming Blue Valentine. The Oscar nominee starred in Derek Cianfrance’s 2010 romantic drama alongside Ryan Gosling as a couple who were once in love but drifted apart. After shooting early scenes where their characters were “young and in love,” Williams said they “took a two-week break” in filming and were encouraged to live together to “figure out ways to annoy each other.” “We took a break in filming, and we lived together, office hours , like 9 to 5,” she said on a recent episode of the Armchair Expert podcast. “We did these improvisations during the day, honestly, to figure out ways to annoy each other and to destroy this thing that we had made.” The Dying for Sex star admitted “we weren’t even going to take that break” but they did because “we were having such a...

Continue reading

Music

George Wendt, the Beer-Loving Norm on ‘Cheers,’ Dies at 76

George Wendt, who bellied up to the bar to portray the beer-quaffing everyman Norm Peterson for all 11 seasons of the fabled NBC sitcom Cheers, has died. He was 76. Wendt died Tuesday of natural causes in his sleep at home in Los Angeles, his family and a rep announced. “George was a doting family man, a well-loved friend and confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him,” the rep said in a statement. “He will be missed forever.” Born in Chicago and raised on the South Side, Wendt got his start in the 1970s with Second City, the famed improvisational comedy troupe that was based in his hometown. Later, he popped up on Saturday Night Live as Bob Swerski, one of the “superfans” who gathered at Coach Mike Ditka’s restaurant in the Windy City to watch “Da Bears.” Wendt...

Continue reading

Music

Inside the Sean “Diddy” Combs Courtroom: Angry Stares, Zero Fashion Flair and Who Sits Where

“The law is a dirty game,” says the effervescent host of Tisa Tells. The YouTube personality has built a sizable and loyal following dissecting the scandals of the day, covering such controversial subjects as the Drake-Kendrick Lamar beef and the latest involving Kanye West and Bianca Censori, with her signature girlfriend-speak. Tisa now boasts more than 550,000 subscribers on YouTube, her go-to-platform, taking her real-time commentary to the steps of New York’s Sean “Diddy” Combs sex trafficking trial as ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura tells her side of this sordid story. Tisa, who doesn’t use her last name due to personal safety concerns, has been seated inside the courtroom since the proceedings’ start, providing updates during breaks and recaps that can go for hours. Her credentials don’t include a law degree — yet — but she’s conversant in legalese in a manner...

Continue reading

Video

Pop Star King Princess Didn’t Think She Could Be an Actress (Then She Talked to a Psychic)

King Princess’ first inkling that she might end up an actor came from a deck of tarot cards (“You’re going to act,” the clairvoyant informed her). The second clue was the WME agent who kept calling and calling. In other words, the signs, both celestial and otherwise, were all there — she just wasn’t quite ready to see them. “I ignored everyone for as long as I could,” says the indie pop star, born Mikaela Straus. “I was in full music mode.” But a few years — and a minor creative crisis — later, the idea started to feel less far-fetched. At 26, with two albums, a Coachella slot and a Saturday Night Live debut under her belt, King Princess found herself questioning what came next. Born and raised in Brooklyn, she grew up surrounded by music — her father, Oliver Straus,...

Continue reading

Video

Kid Cudi Testifies About Porsche Bombing, L.A. Home Break-In He Says Sean “Diddy” Combs Was Behind

Rapper and actor Kid Cudi testified Thursday that he believes Sean “Diddy” Combs was behind the bombing of his Porsche in 2012 and that the mogul trespassed in his Los Angeles home after the fallen rap and fashion icon learned both men were romantically involved with R&B singer Cassie Ventura. Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, took the stand on Thursday in Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan, where the mogul’s team of attorneys is defending him against federal prosecutors who allege in a five-count indictment that he created a criminal enterprise to facilitate his abuse and exploitation of women, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct. Combs is accused of acts including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice. He pleaded not guilty and has said he is innocent of all crimes...

Continue reading

Music

Drummer and Music Talent Agency Owner Killed in San Diego Plane Crash

Daniel Williams, the former drummer of the band The Devil Wears Prada, and Dave Shapiro, the owner of Sound Talent Group, were among those killed in a plane crash in San Diego early Thursday morning. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the total number of fatalities is unknown at this point, but there were six people on board the private jet, the Associated Press reported. Sound Talent Group confirmed three employees died, including Shapiro, 42, but didn’t share the other victims’ names. “We are devastated by the loss of our co-founder, colleagues and friends,” Shapiro’s agency shared in a statement to Billboard. “Our hearts go out to their families and to everyone impacted by today’s tragedy. Thank you so much for respecting their privacy at this time.” Following his time at the Agency Group and United Talent Agency, Shapiro went on...

Continue reading

Music

Different President, Same Song: Trump Pulls a Nixon in His Battle Against The Boss

Before Donald Trump took to Truth Social to rage against Bruce Springsteen — calling him a “dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker” and threatening ominously that “we’ll all see how it goes for him” — another American president once tried to silence a politically outspoken rock star. But Richard Nixon didn’t just tweet insults at John Lennon. He tried to deport him. That 1970s-era culture war — now resurrected in a new doc, One to One: John & Yoko — echoes eerily in Trump’s latest feud with American music royalty. Lennon, a British citizen with a U.S. green card living in New York at the time, had aligned himself with the radical left and spoken out forcefully against the Vietnam War and Nixon’s re-election. The Nixon administration responded by weaponizing immigration law, trying to boot Lennon back to the UK over an old pot bust. It...

Continue reading

Music

How to Watch the 2025 American Music Awards Online Without Cable for Free

CBS and Dick Clark Productions presents the 51st Annual American Music Awards live from Fontainebleau in Las Vegas on Monday, May 26. The awards ceremony celebrates the most popular music of the year with star-studded performances and appearances. AMA winner Jennifer Lopez hosts this year’s event, while Janet Jackson is set to receive the Icon Award and Rod Stewart will accept the Lifetime Achievement Award. At a Glance: How to Watch the American Music Awards 2025 When: May 26 at 5 p.m PT/8 p.m. ET Channel: CBS Stream online: DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, Paramount+ with Showtime The 2025 American Music Awards will feature performances by Benson Boone, Blake Shelton, Gloria Estefan, Gwen Stefani, Lainey Wilson and Reneé Rapp. Check out a complete list of AMA 2025 nominees here. How to Watch the American Music Awards 2025: Date, Time The awards ceremony airs live on CBS on Monday, May 26, at 5 p.m PT/8...

Continue reading