Tag: celebrity and pop culture

Actors union agrees to 11th hour mediation effort, but strike still looms | CNN Business

New York
CNN
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The union representing 160,000 actors said on Tuesday it has agreed to a request from studios and streaming services to meet with federal mediators over contract negotiations but is still prepared to go on strike at 11:59 pm PDT on Wednesday unless a deal is reached.

“We will not be distracted from negotiating in good faith to secure a fair and just deal by the expiration of our agreement,” said the statement from SAG-AFTRA, the actors union. “We are committed to the negotiating process and will explore and exhaust every possible opportunity to make a deal, however we are not confident that the employers have any intention of bargaining toward an agreement.”

The union has already granted one extension to its contract, which was originally due to expire on July 1. If they go on strike, they will be joining more than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America on picket lines against major studios and streaming services. The writers have been on strike for more than two months.

There was no comment about the mediation request or its acceptance from the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP), which is negotiating on behalf of the studios, including Amazon

(AMZN), Apple

(AAPL), CBS

(VIAC), Disney

(DIS), NBC Universal, Netflix

(NFLX), Paramount Global, Sony

(SNE) and CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.

SAG-AFTRA said that news reports were published about management’s desire for mediation even before the request was made of union negotiators at the bargaining table.

“The AMPTP has abused our trust and damaged the respect we have for them in this process,” said the union’s statement. “We will not be manipulated by this cynical ploy to engineer an extension when the companies have had more than enough time to make a fair deal.”

Asked about that statement from SAG-AFTRA, the AMPTP declined to comment.

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July 11, 2023
Stanley Tucci says he thinks straight actors should be able to play gay characters | CNN

CNN
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Stanley Tucci weighed in on the debate about straight actors portraying gay characters in a new interview with BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs on Saturday.

Tucci, who is married to actress Felicity Blunt, said he believes that as an actor, “you’re supposed to play different people.”

“You just are. That’s the whole point of it,” he told the program.

Tucci has portrayed gay characters in 2006’s “The Devil Wears Prada” and in the 2020 film “Supernova” alongside Oscar-winner Colin Firth. He went on to say, “Obviously, I believe that’s fine.”

“I am always very flattered when gay men come up to me and talk to me about ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ or they talk about ‘Supernova,’ and they say that, ‘It was just so beautiful,’ you know, ‘You did it the right way,’” he said. “Because often, it’s not done the right way.”

For decades, Hollywood has cast actors in heterosexual relationships for gay roles.

Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal played lovers in “Brokeback Mountain,” and Cate Blanchett fell in love with a shopgirl in “Carol.” Benedict Cumberbatch recently played a sexually repressed cowboy in Netflix’s 2021 Oscar contender “The Power of the Dog,” and previously played Alan Turing in “The Imitation Game.”

While Ledger, Gyllenhaal, Blanchett and Cumberbatch were all nominated for Academy Awards for their performances, former late night host James Corden, who is married to a woman, was criticized for his performance as a flamboyant faded Broadway star in “The Prom,” with critics calling his performance “insulting” and “offensively miscast.”

Minority actors have long spoken out about their struggles to get cast in Hollywood, even as producers say they can’t find the right actors for projects.

Conversations around inclusivity in casting transgender actors in transgender roles have also become pertinent, and casting cisgender actors for those roles has recently fallen out of popular practice.

CNN previously reported that LGBTQ media advocacy organization GLAAD says casting this way “perpetuates this belief that trans people aren’t real.”

Straight actors playing gay roles, however, isn’t considered to be as “brave” in recent years as it’s been in the past, according to critic Guy Lodge, who told The Guardian in a 2021 interview: “The idea of being ‘brave’ for playing gay is going away.”

“I think that in itself is seen as fairly unremarkable now,” he added.

For the most part, Tucci and Firth received positive reviews for their performances in “Supernova,” where they played a longtime couple grappling with the dire challenge of early-onset dementia.

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July 2, 2023
California is about to give Hollywood studios a lucrative tax deal during the writers’ strike | CNN Business

CNN
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The state of California is about to give movie and TV studios a new lucrative tax perk.

A bill awaiting California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature would the state’s tax incentive program for film and TV productions for five years but with a key update: Studios with more tax credits than they can use will be able to exchange those credits for cash. The bill, part of the state’s overall budget plan, was passed by California legislators on Tuesday, and Newsom is expected to sign it on Friday.

The bill also mandates any production that receives the tax credit to comply with new on-set firearm safety protocols following the 2021 deadly shooting on the set of Alec Baldwin’s film “Rust,” and it implements requirements aiming to meet diversity hiring targets.

The new, refundable tax credits come as competition for film and TV production from other states and countries is on the rise. States like New York and Georgia are gaining share of the TV and film market, thanks to their own tax incentive programs, according to a 2021 report from FilmLA — a nonprofit organization that helps creators with production planning and film permitting.

The bill should be a boon for studios like Netflix. The streaming giant had not previously been able to take full advantage of the tax credit program since it uses a separate research and development incentive from California to significantly reduce its tax liability. In a 2020 SEC filing, Netflix said it had $250 million in California R&D tax credits — far more than it could use.

Disney and Comcast’s Universal Studios were the only two studios that benefited under California’s existing tax incentive program, due to their relatively larger tax bills from theme parks, according to Democratic assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo, one of the bill’s sponsors. The new bill could benefit other studios that don’t have theme parks in the state, including Warner Bros, which is owned by CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.

The bill’s safety measures require productions to employ an adviser to oversee production safety and complete detailed risk assessments. Studios must also establish training requirements and standards that focus on the safe handling of firearms. Many of these safety protocols were voluntary before the bill.

Dave Cortese, the Democratic state senator who introduced the safety protocols in the bill, said research for the legislation began soon after actor Baldwin fired a live round of ammunition from what he said he believed to be an unloaded prop gun during a film’s rehearsal. Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed.

“Conversations about this legislation started the week after the tragic loss of a cinematographer. Those negotiations have produced the nation’s first and best safety practices for California workers in the state’s vital motion picture industry,” Cortese said.

In addition to refundable tax credits and stricter safety standards, the bill establishes specific diversity requirements. Studios must submit data about the diversity of their workforce to qualify for the full credit. The bill also adds a new member to the state’s film commission with diversity, equity, and inclusion expertise.

The tax perk for Hollywood comes amid ongoing tension between the industry’s workforce and the studios’ bosses. The Writers Guild of America, has been on strike since early May, halting the production of many shows. The association’s more than 11,000 members are fighting over substantial issues like pay, the number of writers staffed on any given project, and whether artificial intelligence can be used in writing material.

Actors may soon stage a work stoppage, as well. Members of the actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, have voted to authorize a strike against the major studios if they cannot agree to the terms of a new contract. Similar to the WGA, the actors’ union has voiced similar concerns about pay and the use of AI.

Democratic lawmakers in California celebrated the bill. Carrillo said the plan was a “grand compromise,” and it would help protect jobs in the state.

“These are hundreds of thousands of jobs, most of which impact Los Angeles County and the city of Los Angeles. They’re good union jobs, they’re production jobs, they’re creative jobs,” she said.

However, the bill has attracted some criticism. Chris Hoene, the executive director of the California Budget & Policy Center, a nonprofit think tank that provides analysis on state budget issues intending to improve outcomes for low-income communities and people of color in the state, called it “bad policy.”

“Refundable tax credits were designed to help low-income households… so to take that refundability structure and apply it to a business tax credit, you would think there are some film companies that struggle to make ends meet and don’t make enough money to owe any taxes, but that’s not how it works,” he said.

Hoene called the new policy a “giveaway that doesn’t have any positive outcomes.”

The refundable credits are designed to help more than just the big studios, Carrillo said. Film and TV productions help support surrounding businesses in the area, including “small restaurants and catering services,” Carrillo said.

“It’s very important that California has a competitive advantage and ultimately keeps these jobs and productions in our state while other states continue to announce more incentives,” she added.

Still, Hoene argued that there were more effective ways to create well-paying jobs in California.

“If we wanted to take scarce state resources to help workers, we could do that in ways that could provide them with assistance directly, rather than giving it to large corporations who are already minimizing their tax bills in other ways,” he said.

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June 30, 2023
Pedro Pascal says an angry driver spat on his car amid wild road rage incident | CNN

CNN
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Steven Yeun is quite familiar with how volatile and angry drivers on the road can be, thanks to his starring role in hit series “Beef,” and it turns out Pedro Pascal can relate.

During a segment for Variety’s Actors on Actors discussion published on Monday, Pascal recalled a wild road rage incident that involved a driver spitting on his car.

“It was my fault,” the “Last of Us” star admitted, going on to tell Yeun that he “cut somebody off.”

Then, Pascal said, “I look over, and there’s a big glob of saliva – like visual effects put it there, man – just dripping down the side of the passenger window.”

“He spit at me,” Pascal added.

When Yeun asked what happened next, Pascal said that it didn’t solicit any rage out of him, but rather “absolutely humbled me and shocked me, scared me a little bit, disturbed me.”

Yeun stars alongside Ali Wong in Netflix’s “Beef,” a series that follows two strangers entangled in a road rage incident that sets them on a path of chaos, and he shared with Pascal that he got “flipped off” in his own recent road rage incident.

Pascal gushed to Yeun about how much he admired his performance in “Beef,” saying the show reflects “such a living truth that can happen anywhere but was happening to me yesterday in Los Angeles.”

He added to Yeun that his experience on the road that day made him “admire your performance even more because I was like, ‘You’re nailing it.’”

Both incidents, they said through a fit of laughter, took place on the same day in April, which happened to be the day before they sat down for their Actors on Actors chat in Los Angeles – a city known for tumult on the road.

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June 12, 2023
Michelle Yeoh set to return as Emperor Philippa Georgiou in new ‘Star Trek’ movie | CNN

CNN
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Live long and prosper, Michelle Yeoh.

After winning a best actress Oscar for her role in “Everything Everywhere All At Once” last month, Yeoh is preparing to step back into the Star Trek universe to reprise her role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou in the new “Star Trek: Section 31” movie.

Yeoh was first introduced as the character in 2017, when the Emmy-winning “Star Trek: Discovery” TV series debuted on Paramount+.

Paramount+ and CBS Studios announced the news on Tuesday. Yeoh will also serve as an executive producer on the project.

Yeoh said in a press release that she is “beyond thrilled” to reprise her role in the “Section 31” movie, which she says “has been near and dear to my heart since I began the journey of playing Philippa all the way back when this new golden age of ‘Star Trek’ launched.”

“To see her finally get her moment is a dream come true in a year that’s shown me the incredible power of never giving up on your dreams. We can’t wait to share what’s in store for you, and until then: live long and prosper (unless Emperor Georgiou decrees otherwise),” she continued.

It truly has been a year of dreams coming true for Yeoh, who made history as the first woman of Asian descent to win an Oscar in the best actress category in March. “Everything Everywhere All At Once” took home seven Oscars that night, including Yeoh’s big win and the top prize for best picture.

“Section 31” will showcase Yeoh’s character as she joins a secret division of Starfleet and is “tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets and faces the sins of her past,” according to an official synopsis.

“Star Trek: Section 31” will begin production later this year.

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April 18, 2023
Video: Bodycam footage shows aftermath of Jeremy Renner’s snowplow accident | CNN

Newly released video shows scene of Jeremy Renner’s snowplow accident

Newly released body camera footage shows firefighters and sheriff’s deputies rushing to help actor Jeremy Renner after a near-fatal snowplow accident in January. The “Avengers” actor broke more than 30 bones and suffered other severe injuries. CNN’s Chloe Melas has more.

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April 18, 2023
Drake Bell, star of ‘Drake & Josh,’ is no longer ‘considered missing and endangered’ | CNN

CNN
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The Daytona Beach Police Department has updated a post seeking information to help them locate actor Drake Bell with news that the actor has been located and is “safe.”

“At this time, we can confirm law enforcement officials are in contact and Mr. Bell is safe,” the updated post reads.

An earlier post on the department’s verified Facebook account Thursday had read, “Officers are looking for Jared Bell, DOB 06/27/1986.”

“He should be traveling in a 2022 grey BMW and his last known location is potentially the area of Mainland High School on 4/12/2023,” according to the post. “He is considered missing and endangered.”

The star’s legal name is Jared Drake Bell.

CNN has reached out to representatives for the police department and Bell for additional information.

On Thursday evening, a post to Bell’s verified Twitter account seemed to reference the episode.

“You leave your phone in the car and don’t answer for the night and this?” the tweet reads.

Before that, the 36-year-old actor’s social media accounts had not been updated since April 3, when his Twitter account had a post of his interview with YouTuber Roberto Mtz.

On Instagram, his most recent posts include video of his infant son, shared by Drake’s wife, Janet Von Schmeling, dated March 6.

Bell starred on Nickelodeon’s “The Amanda Show” and “Drake & Josh” in the early 2000s.

In 2021, he pleaded guilty to sending sexually explicit texts to a 15-year-old girl and was sentenced to probation.

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April 13, 2023
Actor Jonathan Majors is arrested on assault charge in New York, police say | CNN

CNN
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Actor Jonathan Majors, who has recently starred in “Creed III” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” was arrested Saturday morning in an alleged domestic dispute, New York police say.

Majors, 33, was taken into custody following a 911 call made from an apartment in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, according to a statement from the New York Police Department.

“The victim informed police she was assaulted,” the statement said. The 30-year-old woman had “minor injuries to her head and neck,” police said.

Majors faces charges of strangulation, assault and harassment, according to the NYPD.

A spokesperson for Majors denied any wrongdoing by the actor.

“He has done nothing wrong,” the spokesperson told CNN Saturday. “We look forward to clearing his name and clearing this up.”

Majors is no longer in police custody, according to the NYPD Saturday night.

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March 25, 2023
Opinion: America’s taste in family pets is changing — for the better, in my view | CNN

Editor’s Note: Urmee Khan is a London-based journalist with more than two decades of experience in TV, print and online media. She is founder of Rakhana, a media consultancy. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. Read more opinion at CNN.

CNN
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It would be easy to dismiss French bulldogs, with their squidgy, cartoon faces and small squat bodies, as little more than a handbag accessory. Some people might even see them as little more than a conversation piece affording the pretext to gossip about a favorite music star or actor. And no one can deny the trend: Celebrities everywhere are photographed toting a baby Frenchie in a shoulder bag, or holding one at the end of an expensive designer leash.

But while it’s true that these dogs have become a runaway favorite among celebrities, the breed has lot more than that to recommend it. I don’t claim to be impartial, however. I have been sharing my London living quarters for the past decade with a brindle-coated French bulldog who is the joy of my life.

It comes as no surprise to me that the French bulldog has supplanted the Labrador retriever as America’s most popular dog, ending the sporting dog’s 31-year reign. Many people might be wondering how a country that for decades has preferred the outgoing, high-energy Labrador would swap it out for a pint-sized, sedentary, furry gargoyle.

Even where I live in Britain, one could read the tea leaves: America’s tastemakers and trendsetters have been making French Bulldogs their canine of choice for years. Music stars from Lady Gaga to 2 Chainz, Megan Thee Stallion and Snoop Dogg have one, as do some of Hollywood’s most famous celebrities, including Hugh Jackman, The Rock and Reese Witherspoon.

The French bulldog’s popularity is not just a reflection of a desire to imitate the habits and predilections of the rich and famous, however. My personal theory is that it reflects the changing nature of what many Americans are looking for in a family pet. In the post-Covid era, these more inward-looking times call for a pup that is less demanding, a pet whose company you can enjoy within the quiet and solace of your four walls.

You didn’t need to be a psychic to see the change coming. Last year, the ever-popular National Dog Show – America’s premier competition for purebred dogs and something of an arbiter in trends about which breeds will be up-and-comers – saw a French bulldog by the name of Winston emerge victorious, beating out hundreds of other canines.

The show’s host sized up the breed pretty well, and got to the root of what makes Frenchies so appealing, in saying that Winston (as well as his handler) “have cornered the market on energy, enthusiasm and just pure spunk.”

“Spunk” is what Frenchies have no shortage of. They are, in short, total clowns. These pint-sized gremlins are about the most entertaining companions one can ever wish to have. My delightful Bertie (also known as “Berts” and “Bertle”) snacks on cooked carrots, Bonios – his favorite brand of dog treat – and sardines. He has his own Instagram account: @bertie_french_bulldog. Bernie abhors walking in the rain, the washing machine and horror films. (The scary music soundtracks send him racing to hide in the bath.)

Frenchies are very stubborn little beings; they are fiercely independent and they have a charming and pugnacious personality. They also possess, in no small measure, qualities that some people would consider drawbacks in a human companion: They sulk, emit noxious fumes, snore, grunt and regularly give you very judgmental side-eyes. But in a furry friend that fits in the crook of your arm, what could be more appealing?

These dogs are quite sociable, which is unsurprising given they were originally bred in the early 1800s as companion dogs to lace workers in Nottingham, England, according to the American Kennel Club.

“Perhaps these miniaturized bulldogs ate less food and took up less room in the tight quarters that were all the women could afford with their meager wages. Maybe they fit snugly on a lap, where they made an attractive detour for fleas that were otherwise human-bound,” the AKC said on its site.

“What we do know is that the lace workers were so smitten by their funny little bulldogs that when the Industrial Revolution eliminated their jobs completely, they took the dogs with them across the English Channel to the Normandy area in northern France.”

In short, these darling toy bulldogs emigrated from Britain some 200 years ago and were repatriated as “French.” And who could blame the French for claiming them as their own?

If there is any drawback to the breed, it’s that some have been found to have breathing problems: those adorable squished-flat faces can be cute, but respiratory difficulties have been know to be an issue for some of them.

You have to be mindful not to over-exercise them, and hot climates can be a no-go for the same reason. Luckily, I’ve not had any issues with Bertie in this regard. His breathing has always been fine. He once overheated, but a cold tea towel and a Bonio set things right.

There is one other concern: Their portability and desirability make them the target of dognappers. The violent armed robbery of Gaga’s French bulldogs made headlines a couple of years back, but even dogs belonging to owners with a far more modest profile have been known to be nabbed. Some owners of Frenchies have learned the trick of tightly wrapping their dog’s leash around their hand at all times and never letting their pooch out of their sight.

No offense to other breeds, but I somehow suspect that, even after the mighty Labrador’s impressive run, it might take more than 30 years for French bulldogs to be dethroned from the top spot in Americans’ hearts.

Bertie keeps our friends and the community entertained with his daily refusal to walk, his daft antics – his zoomies and spins – and an assortment of neat party tricks: He can walk on his hind legs like a pocket-sized dinosaur, plays dead when he gets “shot” and liberally gives high fives and “fist bumps.”

But he’s also a gentle soul. Bertie has been invited to many children’s tea parties and sleepovers and has endured wearing a dress, a fez and being a unicorn. He has even won over my traditional Muslim parents and siblings, who agree he’s a “good boy” and are amused by his comic personality.

Can a Labrador do those things? Maybe. Probably, even. Can they do them as adorably as a French bulldog? I have a hard time imagining that that could ever be the case.

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March 21, 2023
Alexander Skarsgård is a new dad | CNN

CNN
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Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård is on daddy duty.

The “Big Little Lies” actor revealed the news to Entertainment Tonight Monday at the Season 4 premiere of HBO’s “Succession.”

His girlfriend Tuva Novotny, who gave birth to their baby, was not at the event. It’s Skarsgård’s first child and Novotny’s second. Novotny, who shares a daughter with a former partner, showed off her baby bump in April at the Swedish Elle Awards.

In 2018, the actor told The London Times that he would like to approach having a family thoughtfully.

“I’m not going to … say, ‘Oh, you’re all right — let’s make a family,’” he said at the time. “I’m more romantic than that. I have friends who’ve done that, and they’re not happy, and then they go through horrible divorces.”

In 2017, Skarsgård said he admired his father, actor Stellan Skarsgård, who had eight kids of his own.

“Succession” will premiere its final season this Sunday. Skarsgård plays tech CEO Lukas Matsson, as the sale of Logan Roy’s media conglomerate Waystar Royco moves closer to a reality. (HBO and CNN are both part of Warner Bros. Discovery.)

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March 21, 2023
K-pop star Se7en and actress Lee Da-hae are getting married | CNN

CNN
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South Korean celebrity couple Se7en and Lee Da-hae are getting married in May.

The K-pop singer and his actress fiancée shared the news of their upcoming nuptials in separate posts on Instagram.

Se7en, whose real name is Choi Dong-wook, told his 551,000 followers that he had “happy news” to share.

“I have vowed to marry my girlfriend Lee Da-hae, who always embraced me with love, and shared joy and sorrow together for the past eight years,” he said, revealing that the wedding would take place on May 6.

Pledging his commitment to his bride-to-be, the 38-year-old singer wrote: “From now on, I will live with more responsibility as a head of a family and a husband.”

Lee’s post on her Instagram page was accompanied by a series of wedding pictures. In South Korea, couples commonly have their wedding pictures taken ahead of the ceremony and then often use the images for digital invitations and social media.

The post features four pictures of the happy couple in different settings and different outfits. In one, she is pictured in a sleeveless floor-length lace gown, while Se7en wears a tailored gray suit with black bow tie. Another sees the couple outside a pink hotel, with Se7en in a pink blazer and shorts, with his wife to be in a lacy mini wedding dress.

One shot features a close-up of the bride, while the final image shows the pair in profile by the sea at sunset.

Lee told her 207,000 followers: “It may not be a big surprising as we have been dating for eight years, but I am still shy. I pondered a lot about how I should share the news.

“We have vowed to become a husband and wife from a long-term couple this coming May. Although I’m still used to calling him a ‘boyfriend,’ I will become more considerate and a bigger supporter of ‘him,’ who gave me big happiness by staying by my side and now will be my forever companion.

“It will be a huge happiness for us if we can get married in your love and blessings.”

Se7en released his debut album “Just Listen” in 2003. His career has also extended to acting. In 2007, he played the lead role in TV drama “Goong S” (Palace S.) He has also starred in four musicals and numerous commercials, including for Coca-Cola.

Lee has featured in many popular TV dramas, including “Good Witch” in 2018 and “Chuno” (“Slave Hunters”) in 2010, and the 2013 spy movie “IRIS 2.”

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March 20, 2023
Judge says jury in E. Jean Carroll case can see ‘Access Hollywood’ tape and testimony of two other accusers | CNN Politics

CNN
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A federal judge on Friday said that E. Jean Carroll, in her defamation case against former President Donald Trump, can use as evidence the testimony of two other sexual assault accusers as well as the “Access Hollywood” tape, in which he bragged about being able to grope women.

US District Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected Trump’s request that the judge block the accusers from testifying at trial. Trump also asked the judge to block the Access Hollywood tape from being played at the trial.

Carroll, the former magazine columnist who sued Trump for defamation after he denied raping her in the mid-1990s, has indicated that she will call Natasha Stoynoff and Jessica Leeds, two women who came forward with allegations against Trump in 2016, as well as use their videotaped depositions.

Stoynoff alleged Trump sexually assaulted her when she was reporting an article about Trump and his wife, Melania, for People magazine. Leeds alleged Trump groped her while they were on an airplane together. Trump has denied both allegations, as well as Carroll’s rape claims.

In Friday’s opinion, the judge pointed to court rules passed by Congress in 1994 that say that that in a civil case “based on a party’s sexual assault,” evidence that the defendant committed any other sexual assault may be admitted in trial.

The judge said that, even though Carroll’s case is a defamation case, she must prove Trump sexually assaulted her in order to prevail.

“In consequence, this indeed is a case ‘based on’ a sexual assault even under the categorical approach,” said Kaplan, who sits on the federal bench in the Southern District of New York.

The judge noted that Trump has publicly denied the accusations of the other women Carroll seeks to put on the stand and said that Trump is entitled to put those denials before the jury.

Carroll is also seeking to introduce as evidence statements Trump made during the 2016 campaign about his accusers. Kaplan is deferring on ruling whether those statements are admissible.

Trump’s lawyers had argued that the Access Hollywood tape was “irrelevant and highly prejudicial.” They argued that the testimony of the two other accusers “will offer no relevant or meaningful insight into the central question.”

“We maintain the utmost confidence that our client will be vindicated at the upcoming trial,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said Friday.

A spokesperson for Carroll’s lawyers declined to comment on the new ruling.

The case is set to go to trial in April while awaiting a DC appeals court decision that could determine whether the case proceeds against Trump. Carroll also sued Trump for battery and defamation in a separate lawsuit under a new New York law. The judge has not determined whether the trials will be combined.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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March 10, 2023
Tommy Fury defeats social media influencer Jake Paul by split decision | CNN

CNN
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YouTuber Jake Paul suffered the first defeat of his fledgling boxing career on Sunday night as pro boxer-turned reality TV star Tommy Fury edged him out in a split decision in Saudi Arabia.

Two judges both scored the fight 76-73 for Fury, with the third judge ruling 75-74 in favor of Paul at the end of their eight-round cruiserweight bout at the Diriyah Arena near the capital Riyadh.

“In my first main event, 23 years old, I had the world on my shoulders, and I came through,” Fury said after the fight. “This, to me, is a world title fight. I trained so hard for this. This was my destiny.”

Paul, a 26-year-old American with more than 20 million YouTube subscribers, is now 6-1 while Fury, the British younger half-brother of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, remains undefeated with nine wins after taking time out of his boxing career in 2019 to star in reality show “Love Island.”

Millions of fans were expected to tune into the fight, the latest pay-per-view bout involving a YouTuber to generate a social media buzz as promoters played up the bad blood between the two fighters. And just like a genuine world title fight, there were plenty of stars ringside, including former champ Mike Tyson, soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and comedian Kevin Hart.

Fury asserted his jab early to keep Paul at a distance but the YouTuber gained momentum in the fifth round, appearing to stun Fury.

Both had points deducted – Paul in the fifth for pushing his opponent’s head down while clinching and Fury in the sixth for too much clinching, a defensive tactic that’s often only allowed for short periods of time.

Fury was knocked down in the eighth round on a short-left hand by Paul but it was too late as the judges ruled in Fury’s favor.

Paul said he intended to use a rematch clause for Sunday’s fight that could be exercised if Fury won.

“All respect to Tommy, he won, don’t judge me by my wins, judge me by my losses. I’ll come back, I thought I deserve that rematch, it was a great fight, a close fight,” Paul said after the fight.

Paul only began boxing in 2018, but had since gone on to record six wins prior to Sunday – including four knockouts. Fury, however, was the first professional boxer Paul faced.

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February 26, 2023
NAACP Image Awards 2023: How to watch and why the show still matters | CNN

CNN
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The 54th NAACP Image Awards is a week-long celebration of excellence in film, TV, music and literature that will culminate in a televised ceremony Saturday.

And while areas of the entertainment industry have worked to become more inclusive and diverse in recent years, Kyle Bowser, senior vice president of the NAACP’s Hollywood Bureau, told CNN the organization’s annual awards ceremony is still vital.

“We do have an underlying mission, and ours is to broaden the scope, widen the lens, if you will, in the critique and the evaluation of what excellence looks like,” he said.

Multiple honors have already been awarded, including outstanding ensemble cast in a motion picture for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” outstanding host in a talk or news/information program to Jennifer Hudson and outstanding breakthrough creative (television) to Quinta Brunson for her work on “Abbott Elementary.”

That’s not to say the main ceremony Saturday won’t have star power as well.

The presenters list alone is A-list Black Hollywood with talent like Cliff “Method Man” Smith, Taye Diggs, Issa Rae, Janelle Monáe, Jonathan Majors, Kerry Washington, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Tracee Ellis Ross and Zendaya.

Not to mention Queen Latifah hosting.

“It’s an honor to host the 54th NAACP Image Awards, especially in the year we are celebrating 50 years of Hip Hop,” she said in a statement. “This is a night to celebrate Black excellence and Black contribution to our industry and beyond. Celebrating one another, lifting each other up and you know we’ll have fun doing it!”

There will also be several high-profile award recipients such as Serena Williams receiving the Jackie Robinson Sports Award and Gabrielle Union-Wade and Dwyane Wade the President’s Award.

The ceremony will air live Saturday at 8:00 p.m ET on BET. It will simulcast across Paramount Global networks, including BET HER, CBS, CMT, Comedy Central, LOGO, MTV, MTV2, Paramount Network, POP TV, Smithsonian, TV Land, and VH1.

A list of nominees in some of the 80 categories follows below.

A look back at some of the NAACP Image Awards Entertainer of the Year winners

Angela Bassett

Mary J. Blige

Quinta Brunson

Viola Davis

Zendaya

“A Jazzman’s Blues” (Netflix)

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios)

“Emancipation” (Apple TV)

“The Woman King” (Sony Pictures Releasing)

“TILL” (United Artists Releasing/Orion Pictures)

Daniel Kaluuya – “Nope” (Universal Pictures)

Jonathan Majors – “Devotion” (Sony Pictures Entertainment)

Joshua Boone – “A Jazzman’s Blues” (Netflix)

Sterling K. Brown – “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul” (Focus Features)

Will Smith – “Emancipation” (Apple)

Danielle Deadwyler – “TILL” (United Artists Releasing/Orion Pictures)

Keke Palmer – “Alice” (Vertical Entertainment)

Letitia Wright – “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios)

Regina Hall – “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul” (Focus Features)

Viola Davis – “The Woman King” (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Aldis Hodge – Black Adam (Warner Bros. Pictures / New Line Cinema)

Cliff “Method Man” Smith – On The Come Up (Paramount Pictures)

Jalyn Hall – TILL (United Artists Releasing/Orion Pictures)

John Boyega – The Woman King (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Tenoch Huerta – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Marvel Studios)

Angela Bassett – “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios)

Danai Gurira – “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios)

Janelle Monáe – “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (Netflix)

Lashana Lynch – “The Woman King” (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Lupita Nyong’o – “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios)

“Abbott Elementary” (ABC)

“Atlanta” (FX)

“black-ish” (ABC)

“Rap S**t” (HBO Max)

“The Wonder Years” (ABC)

Anthony Anderson – “black-ish” (ABC)

Cedric The Entertainer – “The Neighborhood” (CBS)

Donald Glover – “Atlanta” (FX)

Dulé Hill – “The Wonder Years” (ABC)

Mike Epps – “The Upshaws” (Netflix)

Loretta Devine – “Family Reunion” (Netflix)

Maya Rudolph – “Loot” (Apple TV+)

Quinta Brunson – “Abbott Elementary” (ABC)

Tichina Arnold – “The Neighborhood” (CBS)

Tracee Ellis Ross – “black-ish” (ABC)

Brian Tyree Henry – “Atlanta” (FX)

Deon Cole – “black-ish” (ABC)

Kenan Thompson – “Saturday Night Live” (NBC)

Tyler James Williams – “Abbott Elementary” (ABC)

William Stanford Davis – “Abbott Elementary” (ABC)

Janelle James – “Abbott Elementary” (ABC)

Jenifer Lewis – “black-ish” (ABC)

Marsai Martin – “black-ish” (ABC)

Sheryl Lee Ralph – “Abbott Elementary” (ABC)

Wanda Sykes – “The Upshaws” (Netflix)

“Bel-Air” (Peacock)

“Bridgerton” (Netflix)

“Euphoria” (HBO Max)

“P-Valley” (Starz)

“Queen Sugar” (OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network)

Damson Idris – “Snowfall” (FX)

Jabari Banks – “Bel-Air” (Peacock)

Kofi Siriboe – “Queen Sugar” (OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network)

Nicco Annan – “P-Valley” (Starz)

Sterling K. Brown – “This Is Us” (NBC)

Angela Bassett – “9-1-1” (FOX)

Brandee Evans – “P-Valley” (Starz)

Queen Latifah – “The Equalizer” (CBS)

Rutina Wesley – “Queen Sugar” (OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network)

Zendaya – “Euphoria” (HBO Max)

Adrian Holmes – “Bel-Air” (Peacock)

Amin Joseph – “Snowfall” (FX)

Caleb McLaughlin – “Stranger Things” (Netflix)

Cliff “Method Man” Smith – “Power Book II: Ghost” (Starz)

J. Alphonse Nicholson – “P-Valley” (Starz)

Adjoa Andoh – “Bridgerton” (Netflix)

Bianca Lawson – “Queen Sugar” (OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network)

Loretta Devine – “P-Valley” (Starz)

Susan Kelechi Watson – “This Is Us” (NBC)

Tina Lifford – “Queen Sugar” (OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network)

“Carl Weber’s The Black Hamptons” (BET Networks)

“From Scratch” (Netflix)

“The Best Man: The Final Chapters” (Peacock)

“The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey” (Apple TV+)

“Women of the Movement” (ABC)

Morris Chestnut – “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” (Peacock)

Samuel L. Jackson – “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey” (Apple TV+)

Terrence Howard – “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” (Peacock)

Trevante Rhodes – “Mike” (Hulu)

Wendell Pierce – “Don’t Hang Up” (Bounce TV)

Niecy Nash-Betts – “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” (Netflix)

Regina Hall – “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” (Peacock)

Sanaa Lathan – “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” (Peacock)

Viola Davis – “The First Lady” (Showtime)

Zoe Saldaña – “From Scratch” (Netflix)

Glynn Turman – “Women of the Movement” (ABC)

Keith David – “From Scratch” (Netflix)

Omar Benson Miller – “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey” (Apple TV+)

Russell Hornsby – “Mike” (Hulu)

Terrence “TC” Carson – “A Wesley Christmas” (AMC)

Alexis Floyd – “Inventing Anna” (Netflix)

Danielle Deadwyler – “From Scratch” (Netflix)

Melissa De Sousa – “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” (Peacock)

Nia Long – “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” (Peacock)

Phylicia Rashad – “Little America” (Apple TV+)

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February 25, 2023
Super Bowl LVII: Who scored and who fumbled on TV’s biggest stage | CNN

CNN
—

Big celebrities, but often, not-so-great ads.

The Super Bowl presents a formidable challenge to advertisers, trying to justify the giant price tag for 30-second spots (as much as $7 million each, per Variety, for ads between kickoff and the final gun) by coming up with campaigns that feel as big as the game.

This year, the scales tipped heavily toward celebrity talent – in several cases, thrown together in incongruous bunches – in commercials that were loud but frequently didn’t make a whole lot of sense.

For starters, it helps when the talent has some kind of logical connection to the product, or at least figures into the creative in a way that advances that message. Being cute for its own sake can be fine, but it’s seldom particularly memorable.

Using that logic, bravo to Rakuten, a shopping site, for enlisting Alicia Silverstone to reprise her “Clueless” role as the shopping-obsessed Cher, which she slid into like an old private-school uniform; and thumbs down to a celebrity-studded spot for Michelob Ultra featuring Serena Williams, Brian Cox and a host of others in an odd tribute to “Caddyshack.”

Then again, this year’s crop of beer ads were mostly flat, especially given the high bar that Budweiser has customarily set for Super Bowls past. The main exception would be the Miller-Coors-Blue Moon spot, which was fun, if a little confusing.

As was noted before the game, crypto ads that sought to make a splash at Super Bowl LVI sat out this year’s showcase, a reminder that newer product categories brave entering the Super Bowl derby at their own peril.

Where were the other highlights, which were outnumbered (as usual) by the middling or low ones? Here’s a snap-decision breakdown of who scored and who fumbled on TV’s biggest stage. While this doesn’t include every spot that aired, if an ad featured four or more celebrities, assume it leaned toward the “loser” column.

Movies: The movie business hasn’t rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, but the number of ads for upcoming blockbusters (and hoped-for blockbusters) felt like a collective vote of confidence in theatrical movie-going. Hollywood will likely never completely bounce back in the streaming age, but the studios appeared to serve notice that they’re not giving up without a fight.

Of that roster of titles, give the nod to “The Flash,” which should stoke enormous interest in that Warner Bros. title (like CNN, a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery), and put the focus on the film instead of star Ezra Miller’s off-screen issues. Give honorable mention to “Indiana Jones” and “Creed” among the sequels, which also included pregame spots for “Transformers” and “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Also featured: “Air,” based on Michael Jordan’s Nike deal.

Ram: There were again several electric-car ads, but give Ram the gold medal for its cheeky double-entendre about “premature electrification.”

Rakuten: Would Silverstone waste this kind of opportunity to bask in a little of that “Clueless” nostalgia? As if.

T-Mobile: Bradley Cooper and his mother were pretty adorable, especially when she told him that while he’s been nominated for stuff, he hasn’t won anything. Much better, alas, than its John Travolta “Grease” homage.

Pepsi Zero Sugar: Steve Martin and Ben Stiller gave mini-classes on acting. So, do they really drink this stuff? Probably not, but it was fun to watch them pretend, and enhanced by the one-two punch of it.

PopCorners: Just the idea of a “Breaking Bad” reunion gets high marks (plus the line “We don’t eat our own supply”), even if the snack-food product might not have been the ideal vehicle for it.

Farmer’s Dog and Amazon: Two winners about our canine companions: Watching a dog’s life unfold, and thinking about losing one, served as one of the few genuine tearjerkers of the day; and on a lighter note, getting a destructive pooch a pal, via Amazon.

CrowdStrike: If only the cyber-security company had been around during the Trojan War. A great visual idea.

Google: Another spot that brought together unlikely celebrities – Amy Schumer, Doja Cat and NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo – but in a clever demonstration of how its pixel product can “fix” old photos.

Kia. If you forget your baby’s binky, this is definitely the car for you.

Disney: Marking its 100th anniversary, the studio ran a spot to demonstrate the sweeping depth of its content, and its intricate hold on childhood memories.

Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen: After the histrionics of Fox’s pregame show (never mind the issues with the sound being off), the announcers – handling their first Super Bowl – rose to the occasion, with a solid call that identified the problems with the field, debated a “game-altering penalty” at the end; didn’t get in the way of the action and reminded everyone this was, after all, a football game.

General Motors and Netflix: GM teamed with Netflix shows to push its EV cars, with Will Ferrell as the guide through shows like “Bridgerton” and “Stranger Things.” Not great, but at least it felt big and inventive.

Dunkin’: Ben Affleck (mostly) and Jennifer Lopez brought some celebrity sizzle to the idea of a star moonlighting at a donut store.

Paramount+: The advantage of featuring Sylvester Stallone in a streaming show, apparently, is one more star to help promote “Paramount Mountain.”

HeGetsUs.com. The ads for this evangelical campaign were certainly arresting in reminding people, say, that Jesus was a refugee, and to love everyone. Yet despite being one of the few ads about something that played Sunday, the goal of its message seemed muddled, a perception reinforced by details about the group behind it.

Workday: Rock stars differentiate between calling someone a rock star and actually being one. A fun idea, indifferently executed.

Etrade: Nobody ever went wrong with talking babies, but that said, talking babies is a pretty tired gimmick.

Weather Tech: A solid “Made in America” pitch.

Beer ads: Miles and Keleigh Sperry Teller seem like a cute couple to have a beer with. What the ad didn’t do is make a case for that being a Bud Light. Ditto for Budweiser connecting a six-pack of Bud to “Six Degrees of Separation” (or Kevin Bacon), which had the right vibe to it but felt like a bit of a stretch.

Booking.com: Hey, who couldn’t use a vacation? But why are we watching Melissa McCarthy sing about it?

Doritos: Jack Harlow, Missy Elliott and Elton John pushing triangles? Another case of trying to be too hip and just looking square.

Downy Unstoppables: Danny McBride likes it so much he’d change his name. But the whole thing was pretty McSilly.

DraftKings: Kevin Hart and a host of celebrities appeared, but will it be remembered as a great Super Bowl ad? Don’t bet on it.

Hellmann’s: Jon Hamm and Brie Larson in a refrigerator? Yes, mayonnaise goes with ham and Brie, but as Hamm said at the end, “That’s weird.”

Remy Martin: Serena Williams’ speech was stirring, but the product was a complete afterthought.

Planters: A Friars Club-style celebrity roast of Mr. Peanut felt like a weak attempt to butter up consumers.

Jeep: The “Freedom is electric” tag line worked. The CGI dancing animals, not so much.

Pringles: Another version of the hand stuck in the can campaign? That just feels like their creative is stuck in the ’90s.

Squarespace: Adam Driver is already pretty overexposed, but that commercial – featuring dozens of him – made him really overexposed.

Tubi: Someone should have talked the ad agency and marketing team out of going down that bizarre rabbit hole.

M&Ms: The only real comment to that Maya Rudolph spot was “???”

Limit/Break: Yes, saw the bar code. No, did not scan now.

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February 12, 2023
A twisted tale of celebrity promotion, opaque transactions and allegations of racist tropes | CNN Business

CNN
—

Sitting across from Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show,” Paris Hilton, wearing a sparkling neon green turtleneck dress and a high ponytail, looked at a picture of a glum cartoon ape and said it “reminds me of me.” The audience laughed. It did not look like her at all.

Hilton and Fallon were chatting about their NFTs – non-fungible tokens, typically digital art bought with cryptocurrency – from the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The camera zoomed in on framed printouts of the ape cartoons. “We’re both apes,” Fallon said. Hilton, with her signature vocal fry, replied, “Love it.”

“The Tonight Show” episode from January 2022 is a YouTube time capsule showing the temporary alliance between celebrity marketing and the crypto industry. Bored Ape Yacht Club was not the biggest crypto phenomenon, but it was one of the top beneficiaries of celebrity hype. That celebrity hype, in turn, helped draw new consumers to crypto — an industry rife with manipulation and fraud, and one that US regulators are now giving more scrutiny in the wake of the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. But for a time, when crypto’s prices seemed to have no limit, the money appeared too good for some to ask questions — questions like: Why are some of those apes wearing prison clothes?

“That was a very significant moment, because the audience for that show is very different from the typical crypto person,” explained Molly White, a software engineer and a fellow at the Harvard Library Innovation Lab. The Bored Apes — a computer-generated collection of 10,000 cartoons — were being presented as a status symbol, membership in an exclusive club. Hilton, Fallon, and other celebrities had joined — and viewers could join, too, if they bought an NFT.

A class action lawsuit, filed in December, alleges Hilton, Fallon, and other celebrities conspired in a “vast scheme” to artificially inflate the price of Bored Ape NFTs and enrich themselves, the crypto payments company they used to get the apes, MoonPay, and the company that made the Bored Apes, Yuga Labs.

Hilton and Fallon did not respond to requests for comment.

In April 2021, Yuga Labs released the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection of cartoon apes with a computer-generated combination of features and accessories, such as gold fur, a sailor hat, laser eyes, 3-D glasses, a cigarette, as well as “hip hop” clothes, a “pimp coat,” a prison jumpsuit, a pith helmet, and a “sushi chef” headband. The founders were anonymous, known only by their online screen names.

That fall, Hollywood agent Guy Oseary reached out to Yuga Labs, eventually investing in the company and joining its board. Soon celebrities started posting their Bored Apes on social media — including Oseary’s client Madonna, along with Steph Curry, Lil Baby, DJ Khaled, Snoop Dogg, Gwyneth Paltrow, and more. Bored Apes started selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Justin Bieber bought an ape for $1.3 million. By March 2022, Yuga got a $450 million venture capital investment, and was valued at $4 billion.

The class action lawsuit claims, “this purported interest in” Bored Apes “by high-profile taste makers was entirely manufactured by Oseary at the behest of” Yuga Labs. “In order to make the promotion of, and subsequent interest in, the BAYC NFTs appear to be organic (as opposed to being solely the result of a paid promotion), the Company needed a way to discreetly pay their celebrity cohorts.” The suit alleges they did this through MoonPay.

When Jimmy Fallon introduced his audience to crypto, he also presented a frictionless way to buy in: MoonPay, a payments company that allows customers to buy crypto through most major payment systems like with a credit card. In November 2021, Fallon said on “The Tonight Show” that he’d bought his first NFT through MoonPay. “MoonPay? MoonPay! I did my homework — Moonpay, which is like PayPal but for crypto,” Fallon said. The following January, when Hilton showed her ape on the show, she said, “You said you got it on MoonPay, so I went and I copied you.”

A few months later, in April 2022, MoonPay announced more than 60 celebrities and influencers had invested in the firm. MoonPay spokesman Justin Hamilton told CNN that Hilton became an investor, but not until after she spoke with Fallon on “The Tonight Show.” The FTC generally requires an endorser to disclose when they have a financial interest in promoting a company.

The celebrity hype and unbelievable prices generated enormous media interest. “Rolling Stone” minted NFTs of the magazine with Bored Apes on the cover. Guy Oseary was on the cover of “Variety” under the headline “NFT King.”

Independent journalists, under the names of Coffeezilla and Dirty Bubble Media, noticed blockchain ledger records suggesting not everything was as it appeared. Cryptocurrency is traded on the blockchain, a permanent and public ledger of every transaction. That means it can reveal financial relationships, if you figure out the right questions to ask.

Hours before Justin Bieber bought an ape for the equivalent of $1.3 million on January 29, 2022, Bieber received Ethereum worth about $2.5 million in his crypto wallet, the blockchain shows. A couple weeks before Post Malone released a music video in November 2021 in which he bought a Bored Ape through MoonPay, MoonPay transferred cryptocurrency then worth about $760,000 into the artist’s wallet, and sent two more payments, worth about $640,000, a couple weeks after. MoonPay admits it paid for the placement in Post Malone’s video but says other celebrities paid full price for their service in US dollars.

Joined @BoredApeYC ready for the reveal? Thanks @moonpay concierge pic.twitter.com/gzm1JQEHHF

— Gwyneth Paltrow (@GwynethPaltrow) January 26, 2022

Many celebrities who got apes thanked MoonPay on social media. Gwyneth Paltrow tweeted, “Joined @BoredApeYC ready for the reveal? Thanks @moonpay concierge.” The rapper Gunna posted on Instagram, “I Bought A @boredapeyachtclub NFT worth 300K No Cap ! His Name is BUTTA Thanks @moonpay !” Lil Baby mentioned MoonPay in his song “Top Priority.”

The blockchain shows MoonPay paying high prices for the apes, and then transferring them to purported celebrity wallets for free. MoonPay explains this as a service that helps wealthy people buy NFTs without setting up their own crypto wallet.

The company says the “white-glove” service was created because MoonPay’s CEO, Ivan Soto-Wright, had a lot of celebrity friends, and many of them asked how they could get an NFT. Jimmy Fallon, Lil Baby — they were Soto-Wright’s friends, Hamilton said.

CNN spoke to several former MoonPay employees who said they were skeptical the celebrities paid for their NFTs, because there was no evidence on the blockchain.

The company’s ape purchases have been significant. Since 2021, one of its wallets, “MoonPayHQ,” has spent at least $25 million on NFTs — 60% or about $15 million of that was spent on Bored Apes. The company told CNN they had 14 apes in a cold storage wallet, which offers more safety. It said that five of those NFTs were “purchased by concierge clients that are in the process of being transferred.” The last ape was purchased in April 2022, 10 months ago, according to blockchain records.

One influencer has said he was approached about an ape. In a Twitter Spaces audio chat last year, celebrity jeweler Ben Baller said, “Real talk: not once, not twice, three times, I’ve been offered a Bored Ape through MoonPay. … The fact that some of these super top-tier all-star NBA players have them? And I was like, ‘Yo this is all cap [lies.]’ They didn’t buy this sh*t.” Baller did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. MoonPay’s spokesman said this didn’t happen.

Oseary, the Hollywood agent and MoonPay/Yuga investor, texted CNN in response to a question: “NO ONE is paid to join the club and Yuga do NOT and have NOT given away any apes.” He said he paid full price for his Bored Ape, and so did Madonna.

Yuga Labs declined an on-the-record interview with CNN. In a statement, the company said, “In our view, these claims are opportunistic and parasitic. We strongly believe that they are without merit, and look forward to proving as much.” Hamilton, MoonPay’s spokesman, said of the lawsuit, “We look forward to it being dismissed.”

“The fine art market is a scam – that’s OK, at least there’s art going on,” said Max Gail, who’s been a blockchain developer since 2010, and founded Omakasea and Eth Gobblers.com. (Gail hosted the Twitter Space in which Baller discussed Bored Apes.) The NFT market, he said, “is like a parody of the fine art market. They took the same strategies that had been employed in the fine art market, but then distorted it with some strange crypto economics.”

Anonymous buyers and sellers dealing in items whose values are difficult to calculate has made the fine art market susceptible to money laundering, a Senate investigation found in 2020. In 2022, an average of more than half of NFT trading volume on the Ethereum blockchain was “wash” trading, according to an analysis at Dune Analytics. (Most NFTs are on Ethereum.) Essentially, wash trades are a transaction in which the buyer and seller are the same person, or they’re working together. Wash trading has been illegal in traditional finance since the Great Depression, because it can distort the market by making people believe there is a high volume of interest in the investment. The ability to open many anonymous cryptocurrency wallets makes wash trading NFTs easier. A Chainalysis report found one “prolific NFT wash trader” made 830 sales to self-financed wallets in 2021.

Though NFTs have been celebrated as the future of digital art, and a way for artists to earn royalties, many NFT collections operate more like securities — a financial instrument, like stocks or bonds, that hold some monetary value. “People will say that the technology itself has provided this whole new way of creating digital art,” Harvard’s Molly White said. “It’s not that unique. The unique part of it is the speculative bubble.”

The NFT marketplace does not always make sense even to those who benefit from it. “Bored Apes have gone from $100 to $100,000 in a year. Nothing appreciates that fast,” a successful NFT artist said. The artist’s own works had gone from a couple hundred dollars to tens of thousands. One of the artist’s major collectors “treats me as a commodity and my art is a commodity and he’s always pumping and dumping it. … It’s being treated as a financial vehicle.”

But there is pressure not to raise questions about the system. The NFT artist did not want to go on the record, saying it would be career suicide. “The big collectors watch for artists that FUD. And as soon as an artist FUDs, they get cancelled,” the artist said. FUD is “fear, uncertainty, and doubt,” or criticism of crypto.

Beyond how the Bored Ape NFTs are traded, what they depict is at issue in yet another Yuga Labs legal battle.

In the fall of 2021, accusations began swirling on social media that the Bored Ape Yacht Club contained visual references to racist memes from the troll site, 4chan. The artist Ryder Ripps — who’s worked with stars like Kanye West and Tame Impala — started tweeting about the claims of racist imagery. Ripps claims Guy Oseary, the Hollywood agent on Yuga’s board, called to pressure him to stop talking about the claims. (Oseary told CNN, “I can’t speak on active litigation.”)

Ripps doubled down and made a website cataloging the claims. Then, in an act he says was meant to protest the alleged racism and comment on the idea you can’t copy an NFT, Ripps made copycat NFTs he sold as RR/BAYC. Yuga sued Ripps for trademark infringement, and argues that his maligning of the Yuga apes is nothing more than a profiteering tactic. Ripps says Yuga is trying to silence its critics, and has doubled down on his claims as part of his defense in the trademark suit.

Yuga Labs called the accusations “the incoherent ramblings of a small group of for-profit conspiracy theorists.” However, the Yuga lawsuit against Ripps could affect the class action lawsuit against Yuga. Ripps’s lawyers have issued subpoenas to Paris Hilton and Jimmy Fallon.

To assert its trademark rights, Yuga must show that consumers associate its logos with its products, and it did so in a legal filing, in part, by pointing to celebrity owners “including TV host Jimmy Fallon…”

Ripps’s lawyer, Louis Tompros, asserts Yuga compensated celebrities for promoting its NFTs, and they did not disclose it. “And by doing that, in our view, they have gotten this public notoriety for their brand improperly,” Tompros told CNN. “And so having gotten it improperly, they now can’t go and assert that they have these rights.”

This week Yuga co-founder Wylie Aronow published a 24-page letter explaining that he was stepping back from the company and addressing widespread rumors that the company and its products were connected to the alt-right.

“I will soon call out this utter bullsh*t under oath,” he wrote.

So what are the racist references alleged by Ripps and others? To start, there’s what’s right on the surface: some of the NFTs are pictures of apes in “hip hop” clothes, a “pimp coat,” a prison uniform, a bone necklace, gold and diamond grills. Record executive Dame Dash, a crypto enthusiast, pointed out on a podcast last year that monkeys and apes are old racist tropes.

“Think if you were a racist, like ‘Guess what I’m gonna do? I’mma get Black people to love monkeys so much that they gonna buy them, wear them on their neck… go to something called ApeFest and they’re gonna like it!’ Wouldn’t that sound funny?” Dash said on the podcast. “That’s what’s happening.”

Dash told CNN he hadn’t intended to target Yuga directly. But he’d started to wonder if he was being trolled, given the ubiquity of apes in crypto. “Racism is different these days — you can’t be so overt about it. You have to kind of troll,” Dash said.

This week Yuga agreed to settle a lawsuit with a developer who worked with Ripps, with the developer agreeing to pay them $25,000 and saying he would reject all disparaging statements against Yuga Labs.

Ryan Hickman, a software engineer who also worked with Ripps on RR/BAYC, is also being sued separately by Yuga. Hickman, who is Black, thought the Bored Apes looked like stereotypical portrayals of Black people as stupid or lazy. He said he thought this would be obvious to most people the second they saw an image of a Bored Ape. But, he said, “then somebody says, ‘Well, it’s worth $100,000.’ They say, ‘Okay well, tell me more.’”

In a statement, Yuga said, “Our company and founders strongly condemn the spread of hate, in any form, against any group.” Hollywood agent Oseary said he’d never been on the troll site 4chan.

The crypto community has adopted a lot of terms — rekt, frens, wagmi — that were popularized on 4chan, and it’s not always clear if the person using them understands where they came from. “I doubt that they were a massive alt-right troll campaign,” Harvard’s Molly White said. “I do think it’s likely that the creators of the project basically included some nods to 4chan.”

“It’s not one thing that makes it racist. It’s everything together as a package,” programmer and 8chan founder Fredrick Brennan said, looking at comparisons between Pepe the Frog memes and Bored Apes. Brennan took an interest in the claims that Yuga referenced 4chan memes, because he’d seen them so often when he was running 8chan, a similar troll site. He quit 8chan in 2016, and in 2019 pushed for it to be taken down because it had become a hub for extremist violence. He began to suspect the Yuga founders were like the people he used to know.

Take one of the apes’ characteristics, which Yuga calls a “sushi chef headband.” Brennan reads and speaks Japanese, and saw the headband actually said “kamikaze,” which has been used as a slur against Japanese people. A similar headband appeared on a Pepe meme. “That one was the most shocking,” he told CNN.

In a legal filing connected to the Ripps case, Yuga said the apes reflected a combination of many traits, “not any person’s purported racism.”

“I was hoping, in my eternal optimism,” Brennan said, “that people would become a lot more skeptical of tech bros. … And that liberal — so-called — celebrities in Hollywood would view these people with suspicion. Apparently not.”

– CORRECTION: This story has been updated to clarify when Paris Hilton invested in MoonPay. Jimmy Fallon is not an investor, a company spokesman said.

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February 10, 2023
How stars like Dolly Parton and Tom Hanks became American sweethearts | CNN

CNN
—

In our increasingly divided world, there are few things on which we can agree – not politics, not religion, certainly not social issues.

But there is Dolly Parton.

The blonde icon with a bouffant is one of the few celebrities most Americans love unconditionally. She’s made believers of conservatives and progressives, country fans and indie contrarians, boomers who grew up with her and “Zoomers” who’ve posed with murals of her face. She is a feminist heroine, an ally to the LGBTQ community and a Southern girl from the Smokies whose story of success is a near-perfect example of the American dream come true. She helped fund Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine. Decades into her career, Dolly Parton is Teflon.

Parton is perhaps the most prominent example of an exceedingly rare category of celebrity – the American sweetheart. Over many years, sweetheart celebrities have cultivated reputations rooted in kindness, authenticity and hard-earned success that have elevated them above your average A-lister. They’re the kind of celebrities who host an inauguration celebration to appease a hurting country. They inspire sympathy when they’re photographed alone on a park bench eating a sandwich. And when they die, they prompt nationwide mourning, as though Americans just lost their own grandmother.

These “sweethearts” become symbols in American pop culture. We turn to them for inspiration, moral guidance, reliable entertainment and even solace, said Claire Sisco King, an associate professor of communication studies at Vanderbilt University who studies celebrity culture.

“It’s really difficult stuff that people experience every day – political divisiveness, concern about the future of the planet and the potential extinction of human life,” Sisco King told CNN. “So the idea that someone who’s famous could be really nice gives people a sense of hope.”

Some of our biggest American sweethearts have been cultural fixtures for decades. Scholars of celebrity culture spoke to CNN about how certain celebrities rise above the rest of the Hollywood set to become the public’s sweethearts and the meaningful relationships fans can form with these untouchable icons.

It might seem glib to focus so much on celebrities when their wealth and status largely shields them from everyday challenges, but celebrity culture serves a more important function than we realize, Sisco Kind said.

Celebrities do “emotional labor” for their fans and haters alike, she said. They allow us to feel things through them – we might feel love and adoration for someone like Dolly Parton or the late Betty White, because they can represent kindness and humility, but deride more divisive figures like Kim Kardashian or Taylor Swift, who to some may represent narrow beauty norms or disingenuity.

We also want to identify with celebrities, she said. The tabloid US Weekly regularly features the section, “Stars – they’re just like us!” – a collection of paparazzi shots of A-listers pumping gas, shopping for groceries or dropping their kids off at school. Those kinds of images can reinforce the idea that celebrities are relatable, Sisco King said.

It makes sense that we’d want to identify with famous people whose reputations for niceness are equally well-known, said Jenna Drenten, an associate professor of marketing at Loyola University Chicago who studies how celebrities leverage social media.

“Often fans use a simple rule of thumb: does this person seem like someone I’d want to be friends with?” Drenten told CNN.

It certainly helps a celebrity build a “sweetheart” reputation when they became famous for playing sweethearts, like Tom Hanks: In between playing an irascible toy cowboy, he’s portrayed a widower whose kindness attracts Meg Ryan, a Southern man who stumbles into historical events and compares life to sweets, a little boy who grew up too fast and Mr. Rogers. Because many of his best-known roles are of good-natured guys, we associate him off-screen with that same persona, Sisco King noted.

“We expect actors to show us authenticity and an earnest emotional experience,” she said. “Because of that emphasis on authenticity, we tend to conflate actors and the characters they play.”

Hanks is not Forrest Gump or Mr. Rogers, but he’s clearly aware of his reputation, and he lives up to it on red carpets or in interviews, Sisco King noted. He performs the “nice guy” persona because fans expect it from him.

These sweethearts also, often indirectly, support the fantastical “American dream” – that any of us can become hugely successful through hard work, Sisco King said. Oprah endured several traumas in her youth, and racism and sexism in the TV industry, and she still earned her own daytime talk show and burnished her reputation as a genuine TV personality. Even after she became a billionaire, her many fans continue to uplift her as a rare gem.

Dolly Parton famously grew up in poverty in rural Tennessee. Keanu Reeves has experienced a number of personal tragedies that have endeared him to fans. All the strife in their lives only contributes to their legend.

“(Celebrities’) stories, coming from humble beginnings to achieving greatness, become a way of affirming people’s faith in or hope that they can achieve similarly,” Sisco King said.

Put simply, per Drenten: “Americans love an underdog story.” And when those underdogs blossom into titans of their industry and seemingly hold onto their humanity, we often can’t help but root for them.

Our relationships to celebrities have become much more intimate in the last few years, particularly since the onset of the pandemic, Sisco King said. Our faves weren’t working or doing press junkets, so they stayed in the public eye with intimate online snapshots from quarantine or cheeky cooking segments on Instagram Live. This was when it almost felt like celebrities really were like us. (That didn’t last long once they started vacationing or escaping the virus in spacious, comfortable homes.)

Not to mention, Tom Hanks getting Covid-19 in March 2020 concretized the seriousness of the pandemic for many people – his was one of the first verified cases of the virus among major celebrities. It was shocking, at the time, that such an illness could penetrate a celebrity’s bubble. He shared the news directly with fans on Instagram.

That the pandemic happened in an “era of ubiquitous digital networks” was a “perfect convergence,” Sisco King said: We had easy access to famous people with whom we could develop parasocial relationships, or those one-sided relationships we have with celebrities we’ll likely never know. When most-to-all interaction occurred virtually, it only deepened the strong feelings we have for certain celebs.

“We can get kind of obsessed with particular celebrities because they are easier to get access to,” Sisco King said. “That kind of intensifies that kind of parasocial relationship.”

There remains an expectation that celebrities should continue to provide access to fans. Some sweethearts are up to the task – Parton’s team regularly posts on her behalf, sharing a mix of sponsored content, irresistible throwback photos and even memes. Hanks might even post personally if his “Hanx!” signatures are to be believed. Oprah shares candid videos about what she’s cooking, where she’s hiking and the shenanigans she’s dragging Gayle King into.

On Twitter, TikTok and other platforms, even brief anecdotes about celebrities can travel far and fast, which can help further boost the reputations of some sweethearts. Tales of stars doing basic acts of good, from Hanks delivering a platter of martinis to his table at the Golden Globes to Paul Rudd reaching out to a bullied fan, frequently go viral. It’s even more impactful when a sweetheart celebrity doesn’t divulge their good deed themselves – when Keanu Reeves’ $31.5 million donation to cancer research was revealed by the press, it only deepened the belief that Reeves is a humble, genuinely good person.

Even among American sweethearts, Parton is a “special case,” Sisco King said.

“Part of what has made her so beloved is that she’s adored by people of so many different walks of life,” Sisco King said. “She can mean so many different things to so many different people.”

Parton has been upheld as a feminist icon who has overcome sexism and objectification to rise to the top of her industry, which can endear her to people marginalized by race, gender or sexuality. She’s a talented lyricist whose songs still move listeners decades later. She is who we want her to be, Sisco King said.

The ever-savvy Parton has capitalized on this prolonged, social media-aided wave of stardom. In the last five years alone, she’s slapped her name onto a Netflix series inspired by her lyrics, an NBC Christmas special, Duncan Hines cake mix, a Williams-Sonoma collection, a T-Mobile Super Bowl commercial and a live New Year’s Eve show (the last two in collaboration her goddaughter Miley Cyrus). Then there are the third parties who sell prayer candles emblazoned with her face, cross stitch patterns with her lyrics, wrapping paper with her image or car air fresheners shaped like her wigged head. The brand Lingua Franca sells nearly $400 cashmere sweaters embroidered with “What would Dolly do?” and “In Dolly we trust.”

And yet, for the most part, fans haven’t grown cynical of Parton and her marketing prowess. When a celebrity we love does something we don’t love – Tom Hanks cursing at paparazzi and fans swarming his wife, maybe, or Parton lending her likeness to products we dislike – we can “suspend disbelief” in a way to “compartmentalize those concerns when you’re really deeply invested in a celebrity,” Sisco Kind said.

Parton has also accumulated “goodwill capital,” said Gayle Stever, a professor of psychology for Empire State College, State University of New York who studies fandom. “Her generosity and philanthropy are well-known, and people appreciate that.” Even if she makes a move we wouldn’t, we’re able to disregard it, because we think we know her well enough.

Celebrity sweethearts like Parton and Hanks can feel just as important to us as our real-life loved ones, Sisco King noted. We feel connected to the ones we think we know well, even if the love isn’t reciprocated.

When the biggest celebrities of the day include a billionaire tech exec with slippery Twitter fingers and a formerly lauded rapper who uses racist and antisemitic language, it can be something of a comfort when an affable figure like Paul Rudd or Keanu Reeves appears onscreen.

Engaging with beloved celebrities can also bring about more good than video tributes and merch with a famous person’s face. Stever said that often, adult fans of sweetheart celebs are motivated to join them in the causes their idols care about. It matters when Parton draws attention to children’s literacy or Oprah highlights antiracist efforts, or when Betty White publicized animal advocacy, because they may prompt their fans to get involved.

“Those kinds of role models encourage people to be philanthropic and to care about others,” Stever said. “I think this serves a huge cultural purpose … all of these people have accumulated a huge amount of positive social capital that inspires their fans to support the good works that these admired celebrities support. We need that.”

On a personal level, engaging with beloved celebrity sweethearts “allows us to process our own feelings,” Sisco King said. By viewing their work or supporting them, we can feel those emotions that we might otherwise bury.

“It’s the same reason we seek out films and television shows that produce emotional experiences – ‘I want to have a good cry,’” she said. “I think celebrity culture functions kind of similarly.”

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February 5, 2023
Annie Wersching, ’24’ actress, passes away at 45 | CNN

CNN
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Actress Annie Wersching passed away of cancer early Sunday morning, her publicist, Craig Schneider told CNN. Wersching was 45 years old.

She was best known for playing FBI agent Renee Walker in the series “24.”

Wersching’s husband, Stephen Full, released a statement to CNN:

“There is a cavernous hole in the soul of this family today. But she left us the tools to fill it. She found wonder in the simplest moment. She didn’t require music to dance. She taught us not to wait for adventure to find you. ‘Go find it. It’s everywhere.’ And find it we shall,” he wrote.

Wersching also provided the voice for Tess in “The Last of Us” video game. Neil Druckmann, the creative director of new HBO Max series “The Last of Us” based on the game, tweeted on Wesching’s passing:

“Just found out my dear friend, Annie Wersching, passed away. We just lost a beautiful artist and human being. My heart is shattered. Thoughts are with her loved ones.”

(CNN and HBO Max are both part of the same parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.)

A GoFundMe was set up by “Handmaid’s Tale” actress Ever Carradine in support of Annie’s children and husband “so they can continue to live life in a way that they know would make Annie proud.”

Wersching regularly appeared in television dramas throughout the aughts and into the 2010s. In 2007, she played Amelia Joffe on the long-running ABC soap “General Hospital.” Her breakout role came in 2008 when she portrayed FBI agent Renee Walker on the hit Fox show “24,” starring alongside Kiefer Sutherland throughout the seventh and eighth seasons.

Some of Wersching’s other notable TV credits include her role as the love interest of Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) on Amazon Prime’s 2014 series “Bosch” and a recurring role as the villainous vampire Lily Salvatore on the CW’s “The Vampire Diaries.”

Portraying the Borg Queen in “Star Trek Picard” in 2022, Wersching frequently shared photos of herself from set in full costume accompanied by messages of gratitude for the makeup and prosthetics artists that transformed her into the intergalactic villain. Wersching’s role in “Star Trek Picard,” which airs on Paramount+, is listed as one of the actress’s last professional credits on IMDb.

Wersching’s husband concluded his statement with a touching memory on Sunday.

“As I drove our boys, the true loves of her life, down the winding driveway and street, she would yell BYE! until we were out of earshot and into the world. I can still hear it ringing. Bye my Buddie. ‘I love you little family…’”

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January 29, 2023
Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney revel in FA Cup’s enchantment | CNN

CNN
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When Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney took control of lower league soccer club Wrexham AFC in 2021, it was widely assumed that it was the Hollywood stars who would be bringing the magic.

Two years on, however, this isn’t just a story about the A-listers generously sprinkling stardust – it’s more about the Hollywood duo getting to experience the enchantment of English football, notably the FA Cup.

“I think what a lot of people don’t understand about the sport of football is how much anxiety it creates more than any other sport,” McElhenney told CNN’s Don Riddell as he reflected on Wrexham’s remarkable 4-3 victory over Coventry City to reach the fourth round of the world’s oldest competition.

“That last 20 minutes was harrowing, it was amongst the greatest and worst 20 minutes of my entire life,” added McElhenney, as he relived how Wrexham nervously held on having led 4-1 at one stage of the match.

The world’s third-oldest football club, Wrexham has never played in the top-flight of English football, but the club has a proud record in the FA Cup, having previously reached the quarterfinals and famously beat Arsenal in the third round in 1992.

Currently playing in the National League – English soccer’s fifth tier – Wrexham was 60 places and three divisions below Coventry when the two teams met in the FA Cup third round.

McElhenney and Reynolds made headlines when they completed their takeover of the club in 2021, with ambitions of taking the Welsh club back to the top of soccer.

Wrexham is one of a number of Welsh teams that play in the English football league system due to the club being founded before the creation of the Welsh football league

At the time of the takeover by McElhenney and Reynolds, Wrexham had been languishing outside the top four divisions of English soccer, known as the Football League, for over a decade.

McElhenney and Reynolds have already delivered a TV series – “Welcome to Wrexham” – which documents their time at the club as its emerges from obscurity.

Second in the National league – behind leaders Notts County on goal difference, but having played a game less – if Wrexham wins promotion it will play in English football’s League Two next season.

Secure three more promotions and Wrexham will be playing in the Premier League.

And on Sunday, Wrexham hosts Sheffield United in the FA Cup’s fourth round.

United is second in the Championship – and on course to win promotion to the Premier League – and is likely to provide a much stiffer test than Coventry.

“I think, especially for Americans to see a tournament like this, we just don’t have really anything like this. So there’s something really, really special about this one,” McElhenney says.

The owners’ obvious passion for the club has won over the hearts of Wrexham fans and allowed McElhenney, a guy from Philadelphia, to connect with a community from rural Wales.

“I know those people, I grew up with those people, I am one of those people and to be welcomed into their community has been the ride of my life,” added McElhenney.

McElhenney’s love for soccer, like many in North America, is a new-found love.

The star of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” had been more of a NFL and hockey man, but that changed when he watched a soccer documentary about Diego Maradona.

“I was watching this tiny man who was a magician, I just never seen an athlete do what that man was able to do with the football,” McElhenney recalls of the man widely considered to be one of the world’s greatest ever players.

But it was Maradona’s successor – Lionel Messi – who consummated McElhenney’s love for the beautiful game.

“I had a friend say, ‘You think that guy’s magic? I know of another little man who’s playing right now, who is doing just what Madonna did, except he’s doing it at the highest level for a longer period of time.’

“Of course that was Messi.”

McElhenney began to take more of an interest in soccer, though admits he struggled with the concept of promotion and relegation.

“It’s amazing how many times I’ve had to explain the system over the last year and a half to wide-eyed, slack jawed Americans who had never heard anything like this, and to be fair, I was one of them.”

McElhenney loved the concept that a team could rise from nothing to the top of a sport through the merit of their performances.

“That was really the impetus for this entire thing,” says McElhenney on buying Wrexham.

“It just got my wheels turning insofar as what a great story, what a great opportunity to take a storied club with a rich history, who maybe hasn’t been succeeding at the level that they should be and to invest in them.

“Not only in them, but in the community itself and to see if we could bring them back to their glory in a way that you just could not do in American sports.”

A fourth-round FA Cup tie is not the only unexpected experience for McElhenney – in December, he and Reynolds met King Charles III and Camilla, the queen consort.

The British monarch visited Wrexham to commemorate the granting of “city status” as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations earlier in the year.

As part of the royal visit, Charles and Camilla visited the Racehorse Ground – the world’s oldest stadium according to Guinness World Records and the home of AFC Wrexham – and shared a moment with the two actors on the pitch.

“I didn’t plan to go in December, but when the king calls you come, you hop on a plane and you come,” McElhenney recalls.

“His majesty made a joke that I thought was really funny to me and her majesty, the queen consort, really inquisitive and curious about the ladies’ team, about what we were doing with the stadiums.

“We spoke for over an hour, and I just was not expecting that at all. It was, it was truly an honor and something I’ll cherish forever.”

McElhenney and Reynolds have clearly been on quite the journey. A second series of “Welcome to Wrexham” is due for release later this year and with an ambition to reach the Premier League, there is plenty more in store for the pair.

But first Sunday’s game against Sheffield United.

“I went to visit last summer and it’s a beautiful town full of wonderful people, they could not have been more welcoming,” smiles McElhenney.

“But they of course are now the enemy … I’m sharpening my blade for the Blades,” a reference to United’s nickname, which is a nod to Sheffield – once the steel-making capital of the world.

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January 28, 2023
Alec Baldwin intends to finish ‘Rust’ production despite facing involuntary manslaughter charges, source says | CNN

CNN
—

Despite facing involuntary manslaughter charges connected to the “Rust” set shooting death of a cinematographer, Alec Baldwin intends to finish the movie’s production, a source close to the actor told CNN.

Meanwhile, the New Mexico prosecutor who is planning to charge Baldwin is gearing up for a big trial.

First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies requested $635,000 in “emergency” money “to prosecute such a high-profile case,” she wrote to state officials last August.

“I need funding for an attorney, investigator, media contact person, paralegal, expert witnesses, and general trial expenses.”

She said the trials of Baldwin and another person working on the movie “Rust” would each “take weeks to a month to complete” and require expert testimony.

And even before any trial could be held, each defendant will have a preliminary hearing to determine if probable cause for trial exists. “These hearings will take weeks to complete and will happen rather quickly once charges are filed,” she said.

Carmack-Altwies said Thursday she will charge Baldwin and the film’s armorer with involuntary manslaughter, accusing them of failing to perform safety procedures that could have prevented the accident. Baldwin was holding the prop gun that discharged, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set in October 2021.

Baldwin did not answer reporters’ requests for comment on the charges while walking into his Manhattan home on Friday.

Melina Spadone, an attorney for Rust Movie Productions, confirmed to CNN Friday the “Rust” film is “still on track for completion” and will star Baldwin in the lead role.

The film will include “on-set safety supervisors and union crew members and will bar any use of working weapons or any ammunition,” Spadone said, adding Joel Souza will continue to direct the film.

Carmack-Altwies requested the extra money in a letter dated August 30. She was granted about half of the amount requested, and is expected to ask the legislature for the remainder.

If the case goes to trial, there are few precedents for a major star being charged in the shooting death of a colleague during production of a movie. The attention would likely be enormous, particularly since the shooting happened away from Hollywood.

In the 1980s, director John Landis and four associates were acquitted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the deaths of actor Vic Morrow and two children during the filming of “Twilight Zone: The Movie.” The trial lasted for 10 months and gained global attention.

Some jurors said they were not dazzled by figures from the film industry since they lived in Los Angeles. Rather, they told The New York Times that prosecutors “had not proved that anyone could have foreseen the crash of the helicopter.”

Baldwin has been a major film and TV star for decades, winning Emmys for TV’s “30 Rock” and an Oscar nomination for “The Cooler.” He also starred in “Working Girl,” “Beetlejuice” and “The Hunt for Red October,” and on Broadway. In addition, he is known for publicly advocating for liberal political causes.

Prosecutors will have to overcome significant challenges, including not knowing how live rounds got on set and experts’ varying opinions about the on-set responsibilities of actors and crew members, said CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig.

“Remember, this is a criminal case. You need all 12 jurors to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. So I’m not saying that there’s no chance here, but this is a really difficult case for the prosecution,” Honig said.

The charges will be formally filed by the end of the month, Carmack-Altwies told CNN.

The prosecutor said she will not request the arrests of Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed. Instead, they will be summoned to appear in court either in-person or virtually, she said.

Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed will each face two counts of involuntary manslaughter, but each count carries a different level of punishment, Carmack-Altwies said when she announced the charges.

A jury would decide which count would be more appropriate, and if convicted, they will only be sentenced to one count, the prosecutor said.

In either defendant’s case, a conviction is punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine. But one charge carries an additional firearms enhancement – because a gun was involved – and would require a mandatory punishment of five years in jail, the prosecutor said.

Hutchins was killed when a prop gun Baldwin was holding fired a live round of ammunition, striking Hutchins in the chest and hitting Souza, the director, in the shoulder.

Baldwin has maintained that he never pulled the trigger and was not aware the gun contained live rounds. Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the set armorer who loaded the prop gun, says she believed the rounds were dummy ammunition, according to her lawyer.

Prosecutors, however, say both Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed were responsible for checking the safety of the prop.

“Every person that handles a gun has a duty to make sure that if they’re going to handle that gun, point it at someone and pull the trigger, that it is not going to fire a projectile and kill someone,” Carmack-Altwies told CNN Thursday.

Though a medical examiner determined Hutchins’ death was an accident, prosecutors argue the “fast and loose” safety standards on set and lack of caution around firearms props contributed to the fatal shooting.

“There was such a lack of safety and safety standards on that set,” Carmack-Altwies told CNN, adding that live rounds were mixed with dummy rounds on set.

“Nobody was checking those or at least they weren’t checking them consistently,” she said. “And then they somehow got loaded into a gun handed off to Alec Baldwin. He didn’t check it. He didn’t do any of the things that he was supposed to do to make sure that he was safe or that anyone around him was safe. And then he pointed the gun at Halyna Hutchins and he pulled the trigger.”

Baldwin has said he did not pull the trigger before the gun fired.

During FBI testing of the the gun’s normal functioning, the weapon could not be fired without pulling the trigger while the firearm was cocked, an FBI forensics report said. Eventually, the gun malfunctioned during testing after internal parts fractured, which caused the gun to go off in the cocked position without pulling the trigger, the report said.

In addition to acting in “Rust,” Baldwin was also producing the film. Prosecutors will be charging him in both capacities, Carmack-Altwies explained, saying that as a producer, Baldwin had a responsibility to ensure the set was safe.

Ultimately, the prosecutor said, “just because it’s an accident doesn’t mean that it’s not criminal.”

“Our involuntary manslaughter statute covers unintentional killings,” she said. “Unintentional that means they didn’t mean to do it. They didn’t have the intent to kill. But it happened anyway, and it happened because of more than mere negligence… They didn’t exercise due caution or circumspection and that’s what happened here.”

In September, Carmack-Altwies requested additional funding from the state, noting that her office could charge up to four people in costly cases that “look to be too big for just my office to handle.” State officials approved more than $300,000 of the $635,000 the prosecutor requested, leaving open the possibility of additional funds at a later time.

Baldwin’s attorney Luke Nikas said the actor was “blindsided” by the charges, which Nikas called “a terrible miscarriage of justice.”

“Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun – or anywhere on the movie set. He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds,” Nikas said.

The executive director of the entertainment union SAG-AFTRA called the anticipated charges against Baldwin “wrong and uninformed.”

“The charges clearly indicate a lack of understanding about the standards and expectations of how a film set operates,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland told CNN’s Laura Coates. “The fact is, actors are not firearms experts. Actors cannot be expected and are not expected to do final safety checks or anything of that nature.”

Gutierrez Reed’s attorney Jason Bowles said, “We were expecting the charges but they’re absolutely wrong as to Hannah – we expect that she will be found not guilty by a jury and she did not commit manslaughter.”

Hutchins’ family said in a statement Thursday that they support the charges and “fervently hope the justice system works to protect the public and hold accountable those who break the law.”

“It is a comfort to the family that, in New Mexico, no one is above the law,” the statement said.

In an interview with CNN in August, Baldwin said he believes the responsibility falls on Gutierrez Reed and assistant director Dave Halls, who handed him the gun.

However, Halls and Gutierrez Reed have repeatedly said they are not at fault and accuse Baldwin of attempting to shuffle off blame for the accident.

Gutierrez Reed maintains she did not know there were live rounds in the ammunition on set and has sued the film’s gun and ammunition supplier and its founder, who deny wrongdoing. She claims live rounds of ammunition were mixed into the dummy ammunition purchased from the company.

Halls has signed a plea deal on a charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon, which grants him six months of probation and a suspended sentence, Carmack-Altwies’ office said.

Hutchins’ family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin and others involved in the movie’s production, and reached an undisclosed settlement in the suit in October.

As part of the settlement agreement, Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, was set to be an executive producer on “Rust” when it resumed filming.

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January 20, 2023