ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday resentenced Julie Chrisley to seven years in prison for her conviction on bank fraud and tax evasion charges, declining the reality TV star’s request for less time in prison than was originally imposed.
Chrisley and her husband, Todd Chrisley, gained fame on their show, “Chrisley Knows Best,” which followed their tight-knit family and extravagant lifestyle. A jury in 2022 found them guilty of conspiring to defraud community banks out of more than $30 million in fraudulent loans. The Chrisleys were also found guilty of tax evasion by hiding their earnings.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in June upheld the Chrisleys’ convictions but found a legal error in how the trial judge had calculated Julie Chrisley’s sentence by holding her accountable for the entire bank fraud scheme. The appellate panel sent her case back to the lower court for resentencing.
Julie Chrisley’s attorney, Alex Little, asked the judge to reduce his client’s sentence to no more than five years. He argued that she was a minor player in the crimes, that her “scattered offenses” were “dramatic mistakes.” He also noted that she has behaved well and taken advantage of enrichment opportunities during her 20 months in prison so far, receiving more than 70 certificates.
In a court filing, Little had argued that Chrisley’s two youngest children are struggling with “day-to-day functioning” because of their mother’s absence.
Federal prosecutor Annalise Peters urged the judge to reimpose the seven-year sentence. She argued that prosecutors had been conservative in charging the Chrisleys, that Julie Chrisley was a “core part” of a fraudulent scheme and that she had not apologized, shown remorse or admitted wrongdoing.
Chrisley’s good behavior in prison does not cancel out an “11-year journey of fraud after fraud after fraud,” Peters said.
Peters said she felt sympathy for Chrisley’s family but that their suffering was “a natural consequence of this defendant’s criminal choices.”
Chrisley, dressed in a navy blue prison uniform and with her formerly blond hair now dark brown, addressed the judge.
“I apologize for my actions and what led me to where I am today,” she said, later adding that her time in prison has been “the most difficult time in my life” and has been hard on her family.
“I cannot ever repay my children for what they have had to go through, and for that I am sorry,” she said.
Before the Chrisleys became reality television stars, they and a former business partner submitted false documents to banks in the Atlanta area to obtain fraudulent loans, prosecutors said during their trial. They accused the couple of spending lavishly on luxury cars, designer clothes, real estate and travel, and using new fraudulent loans to pay off old ones. Todd Chrisley then filed for bankruptcy, according to prosecutors, walking away from more than $20 million in unpaid loans.
U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross said that when she originally sentenced Chrisley she took into account her age, health and the fact that she was a caretaker for young children and elderly parents. Ross said she imposed a sentence that fell below the guidelines for Chrisley’s crimes and situation and below what prosecutors had requested. That departure from the guidelines was not based on the loss amount or the number of years that Chrisley was involved, so her sentence will not change, Ross said.
The judge noted that many people she has sent to prison have children and most don’t have the resources or the support system the Chrisleys have.
“It saddens me every time I see children going through that,” Ross said, later adding that she reminds herself, “I am not the one who made the choices to put the children in that situation.”
Two of Chrisley’s adult children, Savannah and Chase, attended the hearing. Savannah Chrisley, who spoke in support of Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy at the Republican National Convention in July, told reporters outside the courthouse that the prosecution and sentencing of her parents was politically motivated.
“That’s what you get with an Obama-appointed judge,” she said as her mother was led out of the courtroom by U.S. marshals. Ross was appointed to the bench by then-President Barack Obama and took the bench in November 2014.
She said her mother will appeal the new sentence.
Todd Chrisley is serving a sentence of 12 years behind bars. The couple was originally ordered to pay $17.8 million in restitution, but Ross said Wednesday that the amount now stands at $4.7 million.
Todd Chrisley, 56, is at a minimum security federal prison camp in Pensacola, Florida, with a release date in September 2032, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons website. Julie Chrisley, 51, had been held at a facility in Lexington, Kentucky, and is expected to return there.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — For decades, video games have relied on scripted, stilted interactions with non-player characters to help shepherd gamers in their journeys. But as artificial intelligence technology improves, game studios are experimenting with generative AI to help build environments, assist game writers in crafting NPC dialogue and lend video games the improvisational spontaneity once reserved for table-top role-playing games.
In the multiplayer game “Retail Mage,” players help run a magical furniture store and assist customers in hopes of earning a five-star review. As a salesperson — and wizard — they can pick up and examine items or tell the system what they’d like to do with a product, such as deconstruct chairs for parts or tear a page from a book to write a note to a shopper.
A player’s interactions with the shop and NPCs around them — from gameplay mechanics to content and dialogue creation — are fueled by AI rather than a predetermined script to create more options for chatting and using objects in the shop.
“We believe generative AI can unlock a new kind of gameplay where the world is more responsive and more able to meet players at their creativity and the things that they come up with and the stories they want to tell inside a fantasy setting that we create for them,” said Michael Yichao, cofounder of Jam & Tea Studios, which created “Retail Mage.”
The typical NPC experience often leaves something to be desired. Pre-scripted interactions with someone meant to pass along a quest typically come with a handful of chatting options that lead to the same conclusion: players get the information they need and continue on. Game developers and AI companies say that by using generative AI tech, they aim to create a richer experience that allows for more nuanced relationships with the people and worlds that designers build.
Generative AI could also provide more opportunities for players to go off-script and create their own stories if designers can craft environments that feel more alive and can react to players’ choices in real-time.
Tech companies continue to develop AI for games, even as developers debate how, and whether, they’ll use AI in their products. Nvidia created its ACE technologies to bring so-called “digital humans” to life with generative AI. Inworld AI provides developers with a platform for generative NPC behavior and dialogue. Gaming company Ubisoft said last year that it uses Ghostwriter, an in-house AI tool, to help write some NPC dialogue without replacing the video game writer.
A report released by the Game Developers Conference in January found that nearly half of developers surveyed said generative AI tools are currently being used in their workplace, with 31% saying they personally use those tools. Developers at indie studios were most likely to use generative AI, with 37% reporting use the tech.
Still, roughly four out of five developers said they worry about the ethical use of AI. Carl Kwoh, Jam & Tea’s CEO, said AI should be used responsibly alongside creators to elevate stories — not to replace them.
“That’s always been the goal: How can we use this tool to create an experience that makes players more connected to each other?” said Kwoh, who is also one of the company’s founders. “They can tell stories that they couldn’t tell before.”
Using AI to provide NPCs with endless things to say is “definitely a perk,” Yichao said, but “content without meaning is just endless noise.” That’s why Jam & Tea uses AI — through Google’s Gemma 2 and their own servers in Amazon — to give NPCs the ability to do more than respond, he said. They can look for objects as they’re shopping or respond to other NPCs to add “more life and reactivity than a typically scripted encounter.”
“I’ve watched players turn our shopping experience into a bit of a dating sim as they flirt with customers and then NPCs come up with very realistic responses,” he said. “It’s been really fun to see the game react dynamically to what players bring to the table.”
Demonstrating a conversation with a NPC in the game “Mecha BREAK,” in which players battle war machines, Ike Nnole said that Nvidia has made its AI “humans” respond faster than they previously could by using small language models. Using Nvidia’s AI, players can interact with the mechanic, Martel, by asking her to do things like customize the color of a mech machine.
“Typically, a gamer would go through menus to do all this,” Nnole, a senior product marketing manager at Nvidia said. “Now it could be a much more interactive, much quicker experience.”
Artificial Agency, a Canadian AI company, built an engine that allows developers to bring AI into any part of their game — not only NPCs, but also companions and “overseer agents” that can steer a player towards content they’re missing. The AI can also create tutorials to teach players a skill that they are missing so they can have more fun in-game, the company said.
“One way we like to put it is putting a game designer on the shoulder of everyone as they’re playing the game,” said Alex Kearney, cofounder of Artificial Agency. The company’s AI engine can be integrated at any stage of the game development cycle, she said.
Brian Tanner, Artificial Agency’s CEO, said scripting every possible outcome of a game can be tedious and difficult to test. Their system allows designers to act more like directors, he said, by telling characters more about their motivation and background.
“These characters can improvise on the spot depending on what’s actually happening in the game,” Tanner said.
It’s easy to run into a game’s guardrails, Tanner said, where NPCs keep repeating the same phrase regardless of how players interact with them. But as AI continues to evolve, that will change, he added.
“It is truly going to feel like the world’s alive and like everything really reacts to exactly what’s happening,” he said. “That’s going to add tremendous realism.”
HAMDEN, Conn. (AP) — Hip-hop artist Fatman Scoop, who collapsed onstage while performing in Connecticut last month, died of heart disease, the state medical examiner’s office has determined.
The official cause of death for the performer, born Isaac Freeman III, was hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, a spokesperson for the Connecticut medical examiner’s office said Wednesday.
Fatman Scoop, 56, collapsed while performing in Hamden on Aug. 30 and was taken to a hospital.
His family said later on Instagram that “the world lost a radiant soul, a beacon on stage and in life.”
A New York City-born rapper and hype man, Fatman Scoop was known for his single “Be Faithful,” which topped charts in Europe in the early 2000s, and for his contributions to hits by Missy Elliott, Mariah Carey and others.
His family cherished him as “the laughter in our lives, a constant source of support, unwavering strength and courage,” his relatives said.
“His music made us dance and embrace life with positivity,” his family members said. “His joy was infectious and the generosity he extended to all will be deeply missed but never forgotten.”
__________
This story has been corrected to note that Fatman Scoop was 56, not 53.
MILAN (AP) — Just as the northern hemisphere starts the wardrobe transition from summer to fall, runway shows in the world’s fashion capitals seek to stir the imagination, and desire, for the next warm weather season.
Milan designers have been ambiguous about seasons in recent fashion weeks, with summer collections not corresponding to the soaring temperatures. That was not the case during the first day of Milan Fashion Week previews on Tuesday, featuring diaphanous, dreamy summery dresses, alongside crisp cotton.
Here are highlights from the first day of Milan Fashion Week of runway previews of mostly womenswear for Spring-Summer 2025:
Fendi centenary
Fendi honored its upcoming centenary with a Spring-Summer 2025 collection that paid elegant homage to the founding era, from art deco detailing to a flapper silhouette, light on the fringe.
In snippets of conversation that punctuated the show’s soundtrack, Silvia Venturini Fendi emphasized the matriarchal lineage that has made her the third generation to play a key Fendi role. “My mother was the energy of the house,” Venturini Fendi recalled.
The collection by Fendi womenswear artistic director Kim Jones sought to spotlight “100 years of very chic Roman women,” combining ready-to-wear with artisanal detailing of couture. Diaphanous dresses with art-deco embroidery were grounded with boots. Slip dresses were turned upside down as skirts, worn with a sheer top embellished with crystals. Knitwear defined the silhouette, under sheers or hugging the body over diaphanous trousers.
Bags by Venturini Fendi, artistic director of accessories, were soft and huggable, often carried in triplicate.
Ferretti’s artisanal summer
Alberta Ferretti showed her summery creations in the courtyard of a former cloister, now a science museum, with an elegant dome rising in the background, the juxtaposition emphasizing the artisanal heritage in her collection.
Instead of embellishments, Ferretti focused on technique. Laser cut cotton created an almost lace effect. Individual cotton leaves were stitched together as dresses or accents on bodices. Pleating elevated dresses, while boxer shorts gave a casual flair.
The day looks were in earthy tones of sand, ecru and black. For evening, chiffon dresses flowed in bright shades.
“They are real summer clothes, because the world in the summer is very warm. I know a show is supposed to be a show but reality is important,’’ Ferretti said backstage.
Marni’s essential beauty
Marni maintained its zany heritage under creative director Francesco Risso, with a wardrobe of whimsically tailored everyday looks for him and for her.
The female silhouette was swathed in form-fitting dresses and skirts, often with deep back slits, sometimes with a mermaid flair. Feathers, boas and crystal embellishments were pretty, and sometimes off-beat accents.
For him, broad shouldered jackets contrasted with skinny trousers. An off-skew bow on a chiffony blouson was kept aloft through some sartorial trickery.
Mixing art with fashion, models emerged in threes, and wandered through the showroom full of wooden chairs on conversational groups to a percussive piano trio.
A sense of Marni whimsy permeated the collection, partly but not only through a series of hats with a yesteryear military flair made light with feathery accents. Risso appeared to confirm his Napoleonic intentions, taking a bow with his hand thrust inside his jacket.
“We like things that are bold,” Risso said after the show.
NEW YORK (AP) — Boston Red Sox radio broadcaster Joe Castiglione said Sunday he is retiring at the end of the season, his 42nd calling the team’s games.
Castiglione, 77, made the announcement on the WEEI broadcast as the Red Sox batted in the fourth inning against the New York Yankees.
“For him to be part of our family is amazing. For him to spend more time with his family is great,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said after a 5-2 loss. “We talked a little bit yesterday about it. I think everybody here and everybody in the (Red Sox) nation we know what he means to this organization.”
Castiglione will remain with the team in an honorary ambassador role. The Red Sox will honor him before their regular-season finale on Sept. 29 against Tampa Bay.
Castiglione joined Boston’s broadcast crew in 1983 during the final season for Hall of Fame outfielder Carl Yastrzemski and is the longest tenured play-by-play announcer in team history. He was on the air when the Red Sox ended an 86-year title drought by sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004 and called three more championships in 2007, 2013 and 2018.
Castiglione received the Hall of Fame’s Ford. C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting last July. He was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2014 along with Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens and Nomar Garciaparra, and in 2022 the home radio booth at Fenway Park was named the Joe Castiglione Booth.
“After 42 seasons with the Red Sox and more than 6,500 games, I have decided it’s time to retire from a regular broadcast schedule,” Castiglione said in a statement released by the team. “While I feel I am at the pinnacle of my career … it’s time to spend more time with Jan, my bride of almost 53 years, my kids, and grandkids.”
Castiglione began his broadcasting career at WFMJ-TV in Youngstown, Ohio, before calling big league games for Cleveland (1979, 1982) and Milwaukee (1981). He also broadcast games for the Cleveland Cavaliers and college basketball on NESN.
“Joe is one of the greatest in baseball broadcasting,” Red Sox principal owner John Henry said in a statement. “His recognition by the Hall of Fame in July punctuated a career of vivid storytelling that has brought the game to life for generations of listeners.”
LONDON (AP) — Former BBC news anchor Huw Edwards, once one of the most prominent media figures in Britain, was given a suspended prison sentence Monday for images of child sexual abuse on his phone.
Edwards, 63, pleaded guilty in Westminster Magistrates’ Court in July to three counts of making indecent images of children, a charge related to photos sent to him on the WhatsApp messaging service by a man convicted of distributing images of child sex abuse.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring sentenced Edwards to a six-month prison term suspended for two years. He will be listed on a sex offenders register for seven years.
“It is not an exaggeration to say your long-earned reputation is in tatters,” Goldspring said.
Edwards’ fall from grace over the past year has caused turmoil for the BBC after it was revealed the publicly funded broadcaster paid him about 200,000 pounds ($263,000) for five months of his salary after he had been arrested in November while on leave. The BBC has asked him to pay it back.
“We are appalled by his crimes,” the BBC said in a statement after the sentencing. “He has betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him.”
Edwards had been one of the BBC’s top earners when he was suspended in July 2023 over separate claims made last year involving a teenager he allegedly paid for sexually explicit photos. Police investigated and decided not to bring charges.
Although Edwards was not publicly named at the time those allegations surfaced, his wife later revealed he was the news presenter investigated and said he was hospitalized for serious mental health issues.
He never returned to the air but the BBC kept him on the payroll until he resigned in April for health reasons.
Edwards began his BBC career in Wales four decades ago. He went on to become lead anchor on the nighttime news for two decades and led the coverage of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 as well as election coverage.
The BBC said at the time of his guilty plea that it was shocked to hear the details of the charges against him.
More than 375 sexual images were sent to him on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021. More than 40 were indecent images of children, including seven classified as “category A” — the most indecent — with children estimated to be between 13 and 15. One child was aged between 7 and 9.
In chats with Alex Williams, who was later convicted of distributing child sex abuse images, Edwards was asked if he wanted sexual images of a person whose “age could be discerned as being between 14 and 16,” and Edwards replied, “yes xxx,” prosecutor Ian Hope said.
“From that chat in December 2020, Alex Williams said that he had ‘a file of vids and pics for you of someone special,’” Hope said.
Edwards asked who the subject and was then sent three images that appeared to be the same person who appeared to be aged 14 to 16, Hope said.
Williams later sent Edwards a video in February 2021 that involved two children, one possibly as young as seven and the other no older than 13, involving penetration, Hope said.
Edwards did not respond, but when asked by Williams if the material was too young, he said, “don’t send underage.” He also said he didn’t want him to send anything illegal.
Defense lawyer Philip Evans said Edwards was “truly sorry” for the offenses and the damage he had done to his family.
“He apologizes sincerely and he makes it clear that he has the utmost regret and he recognizes that he has betrayed the priceless trust and faith of so many people,” Evans said.
Evans said Williams had reached out to Edwards on Instagram at a time when he was mentally vulnerable and began sending him images. He said Edwards never received gratification from the images and hadn’t saved them or sent them to anyone.
Hope said Edwards paid Williams “not insignificant sums of money,” as gifts that Williams used while studying at a university.
At one point, Williams asked for a “Christmas gift after all the hot videos” he had sent. Edwards remarked that some of the images were “amazing,” Hope said.
Williams, 25, was given a suspended 1-year sentence in March for possessing and distributing indecent images as well as possessing prohibited images of children.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The 76th annual Emmy Awards were handed out Sunday at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
“Shogun” set a single season record for most wins with 18. “Shogun” won best drama series, and Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai won acting awards for their roles.
“Hacks’’ won the award for best comedy series. ”Baby Reindeer” and “The Bear’’ won four awards apiece.
Early winners included Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Jeremy Allen White and Liza Colón-Zayas, who won awards for their work in the comedy series “The Bear.”
Stars presenting Emmys to their peers included: Billy Crystal, Viola Davis, Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, Maya Rudolph and Martin Sheen.
Several actors and shows, including Rudolph, won last week. Rudolph won her sixth Emmy Award at last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys for her voice work on “Big Mouth.” Jamie Lee Curtis also picked up a supporting actress Emmy last weekend for her appearance on “The Bear.”
Here’s a list of winners at Sunday’s Emmys:
Drama series
“Shogun”
Comedy series
“Hacks”
Limited, anthology series, movie
“Baby Reindeer”
Actor in a drama series
Hiroyuki Sanada, “Shogun”
Actress in a drama series
Anna Sawai, “Shogun”
Supporting actor in a drama series
Billy Crudup, “The Morning Show”
Supporting actress in a drama series
Elizabeth Debicki, “The Crown”
Actor in a comedy series
Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear”
Actress in a comedy series
Jean Smart, “Hacks”
Supporting actress in a comedy series
Liza Colón-Zayas, “The Bear”
Supporting actor in a comedy series
Ebon Moss-Bachrach, “The Bear”
Actor in a limited, anthology series or movie
Richard Gadd, “Baby Reindeer”
Actress in a limited, anthology series or movie
Jodie Foster, “True Detective: Night Country”
Supporting actress limited, anthology series or movie
Jessica Gunning, “Baby Reindeer”
Supporting actor in a limited, anthology series or movie
Lamorne Morris, “Fargo”
Reality competition program
“The Traitors,” Peacock
Scripted variety series
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”
Talk series
“The Daily Show”
Writing for a variety special
Alex Edelman, “Just for Us”
Writing for a comedy series
Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky, “Hacks”
Sept. 22: Singer-dancer Toni Basil is 81. Actor Paul Le Mat (“American Graffiti”) is 79. Singer David Coverdale (Whitesnake, Deep Purple) is 73. Actor Shari Belafonte is 70. Singer Debby Boone is 68. Country singer June Forester of The Forester Sisters is 68. Singer Nick Cave is 67. Actor Lynn Herring (“General Hospital”) is 67. Singer Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde is 67. Opera singer Andrea Bocelli is 66. Musician Joan Jett is 66. Actor Scott Baio is 64. Actor Bonnie Hunt is 63. Actor Catherine Oxenberg (“Dynasty”) is 63. Actor Rob Stone (“Mr. Belvedere”) is 62. Actor Dan Bucatinsky (“24: Legacy”) is 59. Bassist-guitarist Dave Hernandez (The Shins) is 54. Rapper Mystikal is 54. Singer Big Rube of Society of Soul is 53. Actor James Hillier (“The Crown”) is 51. Actor Mireille Enos (“World War Z”) is 49. Actor Daniella Alonso (“Revolution,” ″Friday Night Lights”) is 46. Actor Michael Graziadei (“The Young and the Restless”) is 45. Actor Ashley Eckstein (“That’s So Raven,” “Sofia the First”) is 43. Actor Katie Lowes (“Scandal”) is 42. Bassist Will Farquarson of Bastille is 41. Actor Tatiana Maslany (“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” “Orphan Black”) is 39. Actor Ukweli Roach (“Blindspot”) is 38. Actor Tom Felton (“Harry Potter” films) is 37. Actor Teyonah Parris (“Mad Men”) is 37.
Sept. 23: Singer Julio Iglesias is 81. Actor-singer Paul Petersen (“The Donna Reed Show”) is 79. Actor-Mary Kay Place is 77. Musician Bruce Springsteen is 75. Director George C. Wolfe (film’s “Nights in Rodanthe,” stage’s “Angels in America”) is 70. Drummer Leon Taylor of The Ventures is 69. Actor Rosalind Chao (2020’s “Mulan,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”) is 67. Actor Jason Alexander (“Seinfeld”) is 65. Actor Chi McBride (“Hawaii Five-0,” ″Boston Public”) is 63. Steel guitarist Don Herron of BR549 is 62. Actor LisaRaye (“All of Us,” ″Beauty Shop”) is 58. Singer Ani DiFranco is 54. Singer Sam Bettens of K’s Choice is 52. Rapper-producer-record head Jermaine Dupri is 52. Actor Kip Pardue (“The Rules of Attraction,” “Remember the Titans”) is 48. Actor Anthony Mackie (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) is 46. Singer Erik-Michael Estrada of O-Town is 45. Actor Brandon Victor Dixon (“Hamilton”) is 43. Actor David Lim (“S.W.A.T.,” ″Quantico”) is 41. Actor Cush Jumbo (“The Good Fight,” ″The Good Wife”) is 39. Actor Skylar Astin (“Pitch Perfect” films) is 37.
Sept. 24: Singer Phyllis ″Jiggs” Allbut Sirico of The Angels is 82. Actor Gordon Clapp (“NYPD Blue”) is 76. Actor Harriet Walter (“The Crown”) is 74. Actor Kevin Sorbo (“Hercules: Legendary Journeys”) is 66. Singer Cedric Dent (Take 6) is 62. Actor-writer Nia Vardalos (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) is 62. Drummer Shawn Crahan of Slipknot is 55. Drummer Marty Mitchell (Ricochet) is 55. Singer-guitarist Marty Cintron of No Mercy is 53. Guitarist Juan DeVevo of Casting Crowns is 49. Actor Ian Bohen (“Yellowstone,” “Teen Wolf”) is 48. Actor Spencer Treat Clark (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” “Animal Kingdom”) is 37. Actor Grey Damon (“Station 19”) is 37. Actor Kyle Sullivan (“Malcolm in the Middle”) is 36. Actor Ben Platt is 31.
Sept. 25: Polka band leader Jimmy Sturr is 83. Actor Josh Taylor (“Days of Our Lives,” “Valerie’s Family”) is 81. Actor Robert Walden (“Lou Grant”) is 81. Actor Michael Douglas is 80. Model Cheryl Tiegs is 77. Actor Mimi Kennedy (“Dharma and Greg”) is 76. Actor Anson Williams (“Happy Days”) is 75. Actor Mark Hamill is 73. Actor Colin Friels is 72. Actor Michael Madsen is 66. Actor Heather Locklear is 63. Actor Aida Turturro (“The Sopranos”) is 62. Actor Tate Donovan (“The O.C.”) is 61. TV personality Keely Shaye Smith (“Unsolved Mysteries”) is 61. Actor Maria Doyle Kennedy (“Orphan Black,” ″The Tudors”) is 60. Actor Jason Flemyng (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” ″The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”) is 58. Actor-singer Will Smith is 56. Actor Hal Sparks (“Queer as Folk”) is 55. Actor Catherine Zeta-Jones is 55. Actor Bridgette Wilson-Sampras (“The Wedding Planner,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer”) is 51. Actor Clea DuVall (“Heroes”) is 47. Actor Robbie Jones (“One Tree Hill”) is 47. Actor Joel David Moore (“Avatar”) is 47. Actor Chris Owen (“American Pie” films, “October Sky”) is 44. Rapper T.I. is 43. Actor Lee Norris (“One Tree Hill,” “Boy Meets World”) is 43. Actor-rapper Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) (“Atlanta,” ″Community”) is 41. Actor Zach Woods (“Silicon Valley,” ″The Office”) is 40. Actor Jordan Gavaris (“Orphan Black”) is 35. Actor Emmy Clarke (“Monk”) is 33.
Sept. 26: Country singer David Frizzell is 83. Actor Kent McCord (“Adam 12”) is 82. “The Weakest Link” host Anne Robinson is 80. Singer Bryan Ferry is 79. Actor Mary Beth Hurt is 78. Actor James Keane (“Bulworth,” TV’s “The Paper Chase”) is 72. Singer-guitarist Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos is 70. Country singer Carlene Carter is 69. Actor Linda Hamilton is 68. Singer Cindy Herron of En Vogue is 63. Actor Melissa Sue Anderson (“Little House on the Prairie”) is 62. Singer Tracey Thorn of Everything But the Girl is 62. TV personality Jillian Barberie is 58. Guitarist Jody Davis of Newsboys is 57. Actor Jim Caviezel (“Sound of Freedom,” “The Passion of the Christ”) is 56. Actor Tricia O’Kelley (“The New Adventures of Old Christine”) is 56. Actor Ben Shenkman (“Royal Pains,” “Angels in America”) is 56. Actor Melanie Paxson (“Descendants”) is 52. Singer Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men is 52. Music producer Dr. Luke is 51. Jazz trumpeter Nicholas Payton is 51. Singer and TV personality Christina Milian is 43. Actor Zoe Perry (“Young Sheldon”) is 41. Singer-songwriter Ant Clemons is 33.
Sept. 27: Actor Kathleen Nolan is 91. Actor Claude Jarman Jr. (“The Yearling”) is 90. Singer-guitarist Randy Bachman of Bachman-Turner Overdrive is 81. Actor Liz Torres (“Gilmore Girls”) is 77. Actor A Martinez (“LA Law,” ″Santa Barbara”) is 76. Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (“Pearl Harbor”) is 74. Actor-opera singer Anthony Laciura (“Boardwalk Empire”) is 73. Singer-actor-director Shaun Cassidy is 66. Comedian-podcaster Marc Maron is 61. Singer-guitarist Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind is 60. Actor Patrick Muldoon (“Melrose Place”) is 56. Singer Mark Calderon of Color Me Badd is 54. Actor Gwyneth Paltrow is 52. Actor Indira Varma (“For Life”) is 51. Singer Brad Arnold of 3 Doors Down is 46. Bassist Grant Brandell of Underoath is 43. Actor Anna Camp (“The Mindy Project,” ″True Blood”) is 42. Rapper Lil’ Wayne is 42. Singer Avril Lavigne is 40. Bluegrass musician Sierra Hull is 33. Actor Sam Lerner (“The Goldbergs”) is 32. Actor Ames McNamara (“The Connors”) is 17.
Sept. 28: Actor Brigitte Bardot is 90. Actor Joel Higgins (“Silver Spoons”) is 81. Actor Jeffrey Jones is 78. Actor Vernee Watson (“Bob Hearts Abishola,” “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) is 75. Writer-director-actor John Sayles is 74. Guitarist George Lynch (Dokken) is 70. Actor Steve Hytner (“Seinfeld”) is 65. Actor-comedian Janeane Garofalo is 60. Country singer Matt King is 58. Actor Mira Sorvino is 57. TV personality and singer Moon Zappa is 57. Actor Naomi Watts is 56. Country singer Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town is 55. Country singer Mandy Barnett is 49. Rapper Young Jeezy is 47. Actor Peter Cambor (“NCIS: Los Angeles”) is 46. TV personality Bam Margera (“Jackass”) is 45. Actor Jerrika Hinton (“Grey’s Anatomy”) is 43. Guitarist Luke Mossman of Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats is 43. Musician St. Vincent is 42. Comedian Phoebe Robinson (“What Men Want”) is 40. Drummer Daniel Platzman (Imagine Dragons) is 38. Actor Hilary Duff is 37. Actor Keir Gilchrist (“United States of Tara”) is 32.
NEW YORK (AP) — There’s the story everyone knows about Lil Tecca, and then there is Tyler Sharpe, the rapper-producer with big aspirations and the dedication to see it through. His fourth studio album, appropriately titled “Plan A,” out Friday, isn’t a culmination of his career to date — but it does reflect the journey.
“‘Plan A’ summarizes my plan for life,” he told the Associated Press. “It’s never a plan B.”
The popular narrative goes a little something like this: Five years ago, a then-teenage MC from New York released “Ransom,” introducing the world to his singsong-y, AutoTune-inspired flow and hook-heavy melodies. People loved it, and quickly. As of last month, the Recording Industry Association of America has accredited it eight-times platinum.
A hit at the start of a career is usually a sure-fire way to kneecap it, to burn bright and fast, but Lil Tecca managed to avoid the cliche. He has a loyal and fervent fanbase, and he never let the hype overwhelm him. The music was always first. It’s why his last album, “Tec,” which arrived almost exactly a year before “Plan A,” was celebrated in hip-hop circles, with tracks like “500 lbs” and an inspired collab with Kodak Black, “Hvn on Earth.”
For this album, Tecca enlisted the producers he’s been working with since day one — like Rio Leyva, Taz Taylor and the like — to evolve the sound he’s spent the last few years cultivating. “My most favorite people to collaborate with are producers,” he says. “We mainly create with no expectations.”
Their process hasn’t changed much from the early days: Tecca picks a beat and freestyles or writes to it. “Sometimes I might just rap on the loop. No beat, no drums, no nothing,” he says. “The only difference is just sharpening the craft.”
There’s only one listed feature on the album — Don Toliver on the futuristic trap-rock, “I Can’t Let Go.”
“Don Toliver is fire,” he says, simply. “When it came to having the Don song on there, it just felt like the perfect moment, honestly, for what I was trying to achieve in that first half of the project.”
Part of that goal is transparency.
“This one is definitely way more personal. I’m speaking about things I’ve never spoken (about) like my mom and stuff like that,” he says, referring to the smooth throwback, “MAMA.”
“So I kind of just wanted to let people take another step closer to me, on the personal side.”
It’s found in songs about relationships and miscommunication, too, like the single “Taste.”
Tecca says the many elements that make up “Plan A” manifest in a few different ways, fashion among them. He’s been wearing a lot of leopard print lately; it appears on the album cover, the single artwork for “Bad Time,” and elsewhere. “Fashion, specifically, is just another way I express myself,” he says. “I kind of learned it from going to a uniform school. It’s like those Fridays where you get to wear what you want. You feel different… It’s definitely another layer to who I am.”
As for future plans — he’s got those mapped out. Video games, film, TV, they’re all ambitions. “I honestly want to do everything that I’m into, I want to show my version of it,” he says. “So I’m into games. I want to show my version of what like, the best game is. I’m into movies. I want to show my version of what the best movie is.”
“Mentally, I’m definitely already in the next chapter,” he says.
But for now, it’s all about “Plan A.” And he hopes new listeners and his dedicated fans will join him for the ride.
“My music isn’t just about me. My music is sort of just the soundtrack to the people that support me in the world that I put my music in,” he concludes. “My No. 1 priority is to inspire the people that actually believe in me.”
BOSTON (AP) — The alternative rock band Jane’s Addiction has scuttled its latest tour following an onstage scuffle between lead singer Perry Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro. Farrell later apologized for “inexcusable behavior.”
“The band have made the difficult decision to take some time away as a group. As such, they will be cancelling the remainder of the tour,” the band said in a brief statement Monday.
Videos captured Farrell lunging at Navarro at a Friday concert in Boston, bumping Navarro with his shoulder before taking a swing at the guitarist with his right arm. Navarro is seen holding his right arm out to keep Farrell away before Farrell is dragged away by others on stage. The show ended shortly after and the band apologized.
The band is known for edgy, punk-inspired hits “Jane Says,” “Been Caught Stealing” and “Just Because” in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the alternative rock and grunge music movements were growing. It has three top five hits on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart.
Farrell, in a statement given to Variety and The New York Times, said, “This weekend has been incredibly difficult and after having the time and space to reflect, it is only right that I apologize to my bandmates, especially Dave Navarro, fans, family and friends for my actions during Friday’s show. Unfortunately, my breaking point resulted in inexcusable behavior, and I take full accountability for how I chose to handle the situation.”
Perry’s wife, Etty Lau Farrell, wrote on Instagram the day after the scuffle that her husband’s “”frustration had been mounting, night after night, he felt that the stage volume had been extremely loud and his voice was being drowned out by the band.”
She said her husband had been suffering from tinnitus and a sore throat and “by the end of the song, he wasn’t singing, he was screaming just to be heard.” She said her husband later broke down “and cried and cried.”
The band’s “Imminent Redemption” tour — with opening act English rock band Love and Rockets — started in early August and was to end on Oct. 16 at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles.
The North American shows marked the first time since 2010 that the original Jane’s Addiction lineup — Farrell, Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery — played an extended run of shows together.
Navarro, Perkins and Avery said in a statement posted Monday on Navarro’s Instagram of Farrell: “We hope that he will find the help he needs.”
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese novelist Elias Khoury who dedicated much of his writings to the Palestinian cause and taught at universities around the world, making him one of Lebanon’s most prominent intellectuals, has died. He was 76.
Khoury, a leading voice of Arab literature, had been ill for months and admitted and discharged from hospital several times over the past year until his death early Sunday, Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily that he worked for said.
The Lebanese writer, born and raised in Beirut, was outspoken in defense of freedom of speech and harsh criticism of dictatorships in the Middle East.
In addition to his novels, Khoury wrote articles in different Arab media outlets over the past five decades making him well known throughout the Arab world.
Two days after the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7, Khoury wrote an article in Al-Quds A-Arab daily titled “It’s Palestine.” Khoury wrote then that “the biggest open-air prison, the besieged Ghetto of Gaza, has launched a war against Israel, occupied settlements and forced settlers to flee.”
Born in Beirut on July 12, 1948, Khoury had been known for his political stances from his support of Palestinians to his harsh criticism of Israel and what he called its “brutal” settling policy in Palestinian territories. He studied at the Lebanese University and later at the University of Paris, where he received a PhD in social history.
“The Catastrophe began in 1948 and it is still going on,” he once wrote referring to Israel’s settlement policies in occupied Palestinian territories. The “nakba,” or “catastrophe” is a term used by many Arabs to describe the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians when Israel was created in 1948.
Khoury was an outspoken supporter of Arab uprisings that broke out in the region starting in 2011 and toppled several governments.
“The question is not why the Arab revolts broke out,” Khoury wrote after uprisings that toppled long-serving leaders such as Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. “The question is not how people tore down the wall of fear but how fear built Arab kingdoms of silence for five decades.”
Khoury, who belonged to a Greek Orthodox Christian family, took part in Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war and was wounded in one of the battles.
From 1992 until 2009, Khoury was the editor of the cultural section of Lebanon’s leading An-Nahar newspaper. Until his death, he was the editor-in-chief of the Palestine Studies magazine, a bulletin issued by the Beirut-based Institute for Palestine Studies.
His first novel was published in 1975, but his second, Little Mountain, which he released in 1977 and was about Lebanon’s devastating civil war was very successful.
Bab al-Shams, or Gate of the Sun, released in 2000, was about Palestinian refugees in Lebanon since 1948. A movie about the novel was made in Egypt.
His novels were translated to several languages including Hebrew.
Khoury also taught at different universities including New York University, Columbia, Princeton and Houston, as well as the University of London.
Swift arrived about 90 minutes before kickoff to see her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and the two-time defending Super Bowl champions play the Cincinnati Bengals in a rematch of two of the past three AFC championship games.
Swift has become close friends with Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife, Brittany, over the past year. And that led to some controversy this week after the 14-time Grammy winner said she supported Harris over Donald Trump in the November election.
Trump has been referencing Brittany Mahomes in interviews and speeches since last month, after she liked — and then unliked — an Instagram post by the Republican presidential nominee outlining the “2024 GOP platform.” Trump posted soon afterward on Truth Social: “I want to thank beautiful Brittany Mahomes for so strongly defending me.”
Swift’s endorsement of Harris led Trump to say in a phone interview with Fox News this week: “I actually like Mrs. Mahomes much better, if you want to know the truth. She’s a big Trump fan. I like Brittany. I think Brittany is great.”
Trump went even further Sunday, posting on Truth Social in call caps: “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”
“I don’t want my place and my platform to be used to endorse a candidate or do whatever, either way,” the two-time NFL MVP said before practice Wednesday. “I think my place is to inform people to get registered to vote. It’s to inform people to do their own research and then make the best decision for them and their family.”
Brittany Mahomes has since stayed out of the political spotlight except to respond to critics on social media, saying in a post: “To be a hater as an adult, you have to have some deep rooted issues you refuse to heal from childhood.”
Some critics thought politics may have caused a rift between her and Swift two weeks ago, when they did not sit together for the Chiefs’ season-opening win over Ravens. But they were back together that weekend in New York for the U.S. Open.
On Wednesday night, Swift pushed her total of MTV Video Music Awards to 30, tying Beyonce for the record among all artists. Her hefty haul included the night’s biggest trophy for video of the year, for which she thanked her “boyfriend Travis” for being on set for the “Fortnight” music video and cheering her on.
“Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic,” Swift said, before again using her platform to encourage fans over 18 to register to vote for the 2024 presidential election.
Since then, Swift and the four-time All-Pro tight end have spent plenty of time together, often with the cameras following their every move. Swift has become a regular at Chiefs games whenever she is on a break from her Eras Tour, and Kelce accompanied her to several performances during the offseason, even making an onstage cameo at Wembley Stadium in London.
LONDON (AP) — Two people who were critically injured in attacks while attending London’s Notting Hill Carnival earlier this week have died, police said Saturday.
The Metropolitan Police force said 32-year-old Cher Maximen died early Saturday after being stabbed in the street on Aug. 25. She had been visiting the carnival, billed as Europe’s biggest street party, with her child, who was not hurt.
A 20-year-old local man was arrested and charged with attempted murder, and is now likely to face a murder charge.
Police also announced the death of Mussie Imnetu, 41, who was found unconscious in a west London street with a head injury on Monday night. The chef had been visiting Britain from his home in Dubai.
A 31-year-old London man has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm, and police said the charge would be reviewed after Imnetu’s death.
More than 1 million people each year attend the carnival, a two-day celebration of Afro-Caribbean culture that takes place on the streets of the Notting Hill neighborhood in west London.
The event draws revelers from around the world for its flamboyant dancers, colorful costumes, rousing steel bands and booming outdoor sound systems, but is sometimes marred by violence on the sidelines. Police said eight people were stabbed at the event this year and more than 300 people were arrested, most for possessing an offensive weapon or drug offenses.
“Carnival is about bringing people together in a positive celebration. That it has ended with the tragic loss of life, among other incidents of serious violence, will sadden everyone involved,” said Commander Charmain Brenyah, the police spokesperson for Carnival.
NEW YORK (AP) — When her husband turns on the television to hear news about the upcoming presidential election, that’s often a signal for Lori Johnson Malveaux to leave the room.
It can get to be too much. Often, she’ll go to a TV in another room to watch a movie on the Hallmark Channel or BET. She craves something comforting and entertaining. And in that, she has company.
While about half of Americans say they are following political news “extremely” or “very” closely, about 6 in 10 say they need to limit how much information they consume about the government and politics to avoid feeling overloaded or fatigued, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts.
Make no mistake: Malveaux plans to vote. She always does. “I just get to the point where I don’t want to hear the rhetoric,” she said.
Viewers gather to watch a debate between Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Angry Elephant Bar and Grill, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The 54-year-old Democrat said she’s most bothered when she hears people on the news telling her that something she saw with her own eyes — like the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — didn’t really happen.
“I feel like I’m being gaslit. That’s the way to put it,” she said.
Sometimes it feels like ‘a bombardment’
Caleb Pack, 23, a Republican from Ardmore, Oklahoma, who works in IT, tries to keep informed through the news feeds on his phone, which is stocked with a variety of sources, including CNN, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.
Yet sometimes, Pack says, it seems like a bombardment.
“It’s good to know what’s going on, but both sides are pulling a little bit extreme,” he said. “It just feels like it’s a conversation piece everywhere, and it’s hard to escape it.”
Media fatigue isn’t a new phenomenon. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late 2019 found roughly two in three Americans felt worn out by the amount of news there is, about the same as in a poll taken in early 2018. During the 2016 presidential campaign, about 6 in 10 people felt overloaded by campaign news.
But it can be particularly acute with news related to politics. The AP-NORC/USAFacts poll found that half of Americans feel a need to limit their consumption of information related to crime or overseas conflicts, while only about 4 in 10 are limiting news about the economy and jobs.
It’s easy to understand, with television outlets like CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC full of political talk and a wide array of political news online, sometimes complicated by disinformation.
“There’s a glut of information,” said Richard Coffin, director of research and advocacy for USAFacts, “and people are having a hard time figuring out what is true or not.”
Women are more likely to feel they need to limit media
In the AP-NORC poll, about 6 in 10 men said they follow news about elections and politics at least “very” closely, compared to about half of women. For all types of news, not just politics, women are more likely than men to report the need to limit their media consumption, the survey found.
White adults are also more likely than Black or Hispanic adults to say they need to limit media consumption on politics, the poll found.
Kaleb Aravzo, 19, a Democrat, gets a baseline of news by listening to National Public Radio in the morning at home in Logan, Utah. Too much politics, particularly when he’s on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram, can trigger anxiety and depression.
“If it pops up on my page when I’m on social media,” he said, “I’ll just scroll past it.”
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Sanders reported from Washington. David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.
The AP poll of 1,019 adults was conducted July 29-August 8, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Shogun” had historic wins in an epic 18-Emmy first season, “Hacks” scored an upset for best comedy on what was still a four-trophy night for “The Bear,” and “Baby Reindeer” had a holiday at an Emmy Awards that had some surprising swerves.
“Shogun,” the FX series about power struggles in feudal Japan, won best drama series, Hiroyuki Sanada won best actor in a drama, and Anna Sawai won best actress. Sanada was the first Japanese actor to win an Emmy. Sawai became the second just moments later.
”‘Shogun’ taught me when we work together, we can make miracles,” Sanada said in his acceptance speech from the stage of the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
Justin Marks, center, and Hiroyuki Sanada, center right, and the team from “Shogun” accepts the award for outstanding drama series during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Anna Sawai accepts the award for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for “Shogun” during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
The team of “Hacks” pick up their official Emmy statuette for outstanding comedy series at the 76th Emmy Awards Trophy Table on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Mark Von Holden/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Content Services)
Jen Statsky, center from left, Paul W. Downs, and Lucia Aniello, and the team from “Hacks” accept the award for outstanding comedy series during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
“Hacks” was the surprise winner of its first best comedy series award, topping “The Bear,” which most had expected to take it after big wins earlier in the evening.
Jean Smart won her third best actress in a comedy award for the third season of Max’s “Hacks,” in which her stand-up comic character Deborah Vance tries to make it in late-night TV. Smart has six Emmys overall.
Despite losing out on the night’s biggest comedy prize after winning it for its first season at January’s strike-delayed ceremony, FX’s “The Bear” star Jeremy Allen White won best actor in a comedy for the second straight year, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach repeated as best supporting actor.
And Liza Colón-Zayas was the surprise best supporting actor winner over competition that included Meryl Streep, becoming the first Latina to win in the category.
“To all the Latinas who are looking at me,” she said, her eyes welling with tears. “keep believing, and vote.”
Netflix’s darkly quirky “Baby Reindeer” won best limited series. Creator and star Richard Gadd won for his lead acting and his writing and Jessica Gunning, who plays his tormentor, won best supporting actress.
Accepting the series award, Gadd urged the makers of television to take chances.
“The only constant across any success in television is good storytelling,” he said. “Good storytelling that speaks to our times. So take risks, push boundaries. Explore the uncomfortable. Dare to fail in order to achieve.”
“Baby Reindeer” is based on a one man-stage show in which Gadd describes being sexually abused along with other emotional struggles.
Accepting that award, he said, “no matter how bad it gets, it always gets better.”
Richard Gadd poses in the press room with the award for outstanding writing for a limited or anthology series or movie for “Baby Reindeer” during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Jodie Foster accepts the award for outstanding lead actress in a limited or Anthology series or movie for “True Detective: Night Country” during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly as Gadd has.
Jodie Foster won her first Emmy to go with her two Oscars when she took best actress in a limited series for “True Detective: Night Country.”
Foster played a salty police chief investigating a mass killing in the round-the-clock dark of an Alaskan winter on the HBO show. While her castmate Kali Reis missed out on becoming the first Indigenous actor to win an Emmy in the supporting category, Foster praised her, and the show’s collaboration with Indigenous contributors.
“The Inupiaq and Inuit people of northern Alaska who told us their stories, and they allowed us to listen,” Foster said. “That was just a blessing. It was love, love, love, and when you feel that, something amazing happens.”
Greg Berlanti, a producer and writer on shows including “Dawson’s Creek” and “Everwood,” received the Television Academy’s Governors Award for his career-long contributions to improving LGBTQ visibility on television. He talked about a childhood when there was little such visibility.
“There wasn’t a lot of gay characters on television back then, and I was a closeted gay kid,” Berlanti said. “It’s hard to describe how lonely that was at the time,”
The long decline of traditional broadcast TV at the Emmys continued, with zero wins between the four broadcast networks.
Hosts Eugene Levy, left, and Dan Levy speak during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Hosts Eugene Levy, left, and Dan Levy speak during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
In the monologue that opened the ABC telecast, Dan Levy, who hosted with his father and “Schitt’s Creek” co-star Eugene Levy, called the Emmys “broadcast TV’s biggest night for honoring movie stars on streaming services.”
Though other than Foster, movie stars didn’t fare too well. Her fellow Oscar winners Streep and Robert Downey Jr. had been among the favorites, but came up empty.
“Robert Downey Jr. I have a poster of you in my house!” said Lamorne Morris, who beat Downey for best supporting actor in a limited series, said from the stage as he accepted his first Emmy.
The evening managed to meet many expectations but included several swerves like the win for “Hacks.”
“We were really shocked,” “Hacks co-creator Jen Statsky, who also won for writing, said after the show. ”We were truly, really surprised.”
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Ebon Moss-Bachrach accepts the award for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for “The Bear” during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
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Steve Martin, from left, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez present the award for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
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Liza Colon-Zayas accepts the award for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for “The Bear” during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
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James Johnson, from left, Princess Daazhraii Johnson, and Cathy Tagnak Rexford arrive at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
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Skye P. Marshall, left, and Kathy Bates arrive at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
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Ebon Moss-Bachrach accepts the award for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for “The Bear” during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
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Ebon Moss-Bachrach accepts the award for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for “The Bear” during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
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Steve Martin, from left, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez present the award for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
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Steve Martin, from left, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez present the award for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
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Liza Colon-Zayas accepts the award for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for “The Bear” during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
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Liza Colon-Zayas accepts the award for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for “The Bear” during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
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James Johnson, from left, Princess Daazhraii Johnson, and Cathy Tagnak Rexford arrive at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
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James Johnson, from left, Princess Daazhraii Johnson, and Cathy Tagnak Rexford arrive at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
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Skye P. Marshall, left, and Kathy Bates arrive at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
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Skye P. Marshall, left, and Kathy Bates arrive at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
And “Shogun” got off to a quiet start, missing on early awards and not getting its first trophy until past the halfway point.
Still, it shattered the record for Emmys for one season previously held by the 2008 limited series “John Adams” in 2008. And its acting wins would have been hard to imagine before the series became an acclaimed phenomenon.
Sanada is a 63-year-old longtime screen star whose name is little known outside Japan, even if his face is through Hollywood films like “The Last Samurai” and “John Wick Chapter 4.” Sawai, 32, who was born in New Zealand and moved to Japan as a child, is significantly less known in the U.S. She wept when she accepted best actress.
“When you saw me cry on stage, it was probably the 12th time I cried today,” Sawai said backstage. “It was just mixed emotions, wanting everyone to win all that. I may cry again now.”
“The Bear” would finish second with 11 overall Emmys, including guest acting wins at the Creative Arts ceremony for Jamie Lee Curtis and Jon Bernthal.
The Levys in their opening monologue mocked the show being in the comedy category.
“In honor of ‘The Bear’ we will be making no jokes,” Eugene Levy said, to laughs.
Elizabeth Debicki took best supporting actress in a drama for playing Princess Diana at the end of her life in the sixth and final season of “The Crown.”
“Playing this part, based on this unparalleled, incredible human being, has been my great privilege,” Debicki said in her acceptance. “It’s been a gift.”
Several awards were presented by themed teams from TV history, including sitcom dads George Lopez, Damon Wayans and Jesse Tyler Ferguson and TV moms Meredith Baxter, Connie Britton, and Susan Kelechi Watson.
NEW YORK (AP) — A mural honoring ancient and modern figures in medicine that has hung in the lobby of Pfizer’s original New York City headquarters for more than 60 years could soon end up in pieces if conservationists can’t find a new home for it in the next few weeks.
“Medical Research Through the Ages,” a massive metal and tile mosaic depicting scientists and lab equipment, has been visible through the high glass-windowed lobby of the pharmaceutical giant’s midtown Manhattan office since the 1960s.
But the building is being gutted and converted into residential apartments, and the new owners have given the mural a move-out date of as soon as Sept. 10.
Art conservationists and the late artist’s daughters are now scrambling to find a patron who is able to cover the tens of thousands of dollars they estimate it will take to move and remount it, as well as an institution that can display it.
“I would ideally like to see it as part of an educational future, whether it’s on a hospital campus as part of a school or a college. Or part of a larger public art program for the citizens of New York City,” said art historian and urban planner Andrew Cronson, one of the people trying to find a new home for the piece.
The 40-foot-wide and 18-foot-high (12 meters by 5.5 meters) mural by Greek American artist Nikos Bel-Jon was the main showpiece of Pfizer’s world headquarters when the building opened a few blocks from Grand Central Terminal in 1961, at a time when flashy buildings and grand corporate art projects were a symbol of business success. He died in 1966, leaving behind dozens of large brushed-metal works commissioned by companies and private institutions, many of which have now been lost or destroyed.
In recent years, Pfizer sold the building — and last year moved its headquarters to a shared office space in a newer property. The company said in an emailed statement that it decided the money needed to deconstruct, relocate and reinstall the mural elsewhere would be better spent on “patient-related priorities.”
The developer now turning the building into apartments, Metro Loft, doesn’t want to keep the artwork either, though it has been working with those trying to save the piece with help like letting art appraisers in. The company declined to comment further, but Jack Berman, its director of operations, confirmed in an email that it needs to get the mural out.
Bel-Jon’s youngest daughter, Rhea Bel-Jon Calkins, said they’ve gotten some interest from universities who could take the piece, and a Greek cultural organization that could help fundraise for the move. But the removal alone could cost between $20,00 and $50,000, according to estimates cited by Cronson.
If they can’t immediately find a taker, the mural won’t end up in landfill, Bel-Jon Calkins said. But it would have to be broken up into pieces — nine metal sections and eight mosaic sections — and moved into storage, likely with some of her relatives.
Time is ticking away. Workers gutting the building have been carrying out ripped-up carpeting, drab office chairs and piles of scrap wood and loading them into garbage trucks.
For the past few decades, the artwork’s metal — brushed tin and aluminum panels in the shape of laboratory beakers, funnels and flasks, surrounded by symbols, alchemists and scientists — has been a dull gray and white. But Bel-Jon Calkins remembers its original, multicolored lighting scheme.
“As you moved, the color moved with you and changed. So there was a constant dynamic to the mural that no one really has ever been able to achieve,” she said.
Richard McCoy, director of the Indiana nonprofit Landmark Columbus Foundation, which cares for local buildings and landscapes, said the piece might lack commercial value, describing Bel-Jon as “extraordinary, but not super well-known.”
“But then you realize 20 or 30 years from then how great it was,” he said, adding that it might merit preservation for its historical value.
Bel-Jon Calkins tracks her father’s 42 large-scale metal murals in a spreadsheet and on the artist’s website. She said only about a dozen are confirmed to exist.
A 12-foot (3.6-meter) metal mosaic depicting saints and commissioned by a Greek Orthodox church in San Francisco was destroyed in the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. General Motors commissioned a hubcap-shaped metal mural that was larger than a car for a trade show, but she confirmed it was later melted down into scrap.
“It’s the corporations that have lost them,” she said in a phone conversation from her home in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. “They valued them enough to commission them but not enough to preserve them.”
This year’s event will take place Nov. 11 at David Geffen Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. Since its inception, Stand Up for Heroes has raised $84 million to help veterans and military families.
Stand Up for Heroes was first held in 2007 and is produced by the New York Comedy Festival and the Bob Woodruff Foundation. Woodruff was nearly killed during a 2006 attack in Iraq while embedded with U.S. troops for ABC News.
“Our 18th Stand Up for Heroes promises to be another great evening of laughter, music, and entertainment, as well as a time to recognize our veterans, service members, and their families,” Suni Harford, board chair of the Bob Woodruff Foundation, said in a statement. “With our event falling on Veterans Day, it’s a perfect time to share our veterans’ stories and collectively honor them.”
Tickets for Stand Up for Heroes go on sale Thursday through bobwoodrufffoundation.org and the Lincoln Center box office.
BRIDGEHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) — Ralph Lauren took to Hamptons horse country for a rollout of his signature Americana featuring first lady Jill Biden, Usher and Colman Domingo on his front row and Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and a bevy of adorable kids on his runway.
Horses and riders meandered Thursday night in a nearby field behind a white picket fence at a tony equestrian complex in Bridgehampton as Lauren showed bright tennis whites, baby blue dresses and jackets, and bright orange, green and yellow looks for men, women and the aforementioned tots.
The sun faded as the open-air show came to a close and Lauren’s guests made their way to dinner in an on-site pop-up of his iconic Polo Bar restaurant.
Lauren, taking his bow with Biden at his side, has fond memories of the Hamptons, where he maintains a home and visited as a child. For his spring 2025 show, a day ahead of the official start of New York Fashion Week, he chose Khalily Stables, a state-of-the-art, 19-acre equestrian compound of stalls, barns, riding arenas and grassy paddocks.
Lauren mixed his Ralph Lauren Collection, Purple Label, Polo Ralph Lauren and children’s wear for an extra-long show that stressed wearability on a weather-perfect evening as summer turns to fall.
There were picnic looks in soft blue dresses, and white trousers and shorts paired with stripes and jackets. There were evening looks, including a stunning long blush pearled skirt worn by Campbell with a knotted white T-shirt.
For the men, Lauren offered skinny cuffed trousers, blue floral dinner jackets and splashes of color blocking in orange pants paired with navy nautical jackets and wide multicolored ties over pinstripe shirts.
Whites and blues dominated, with a sprinkling of crochet and khaki. He threw in some sparkle in slinky sequined evening gowns, backless white cocktail dresses and blue blouses, adding a bit of his fairy dust to a pair of torn khaki trousers and other looks.
Lauren’s young ones, from preschoolers to tweens and teens, were ready for anything.
One wore white shorts and a green slicker worthy of the U.S. Open the company just sponsored in looks for the ball crews and on-court officials. Others wore high riding boots with blue polos and matching pants. Still more were tiny prepsters in pinstripe button downs, navy jackets and cropped white pants.
The show, Usher mused afterwards, was “American life. That’s American love. That’s family.”
Another of Lauren’s guests, Tom Hiddleston, agreed. “It’s an extremely precise and intelligent vision because you sort of think, I’d like to be a part of that. I’d like to live that,” he said. “Very inspiring.”
Domingo added: “You saw literally all different colors and shapes and sizes of people and people feeling like they belong and go together.”
Fellow guest Jude Law summed it up this way: “Aspiration for a better place.”
Naomi Watts, Kasey Musgraves, Demi Singleton and Justin Theroux were also among Lauren’s guests. So was Kim Min-jeong, known as Winter, from the K-pop girl group Aespa.
In his show notes, Lauren said the Hamptons is “more than a place. It’s a natural world of endless blue skies, the ocean, green fields, and white fences, rusticity and elegance with a quality of light that drew artists here decades ago.”
He called the summer haven for New Yorkers like himself his home away from home, “my refuge and always an inspiration.” Perhaps Lauren has better luck with the travel gods overseeing New York traffic. Some of his city guests without access to helicopters for hire spent four hours fighting traffic on the way to his show.
PARIS (AP) — The final act of the Paralympics in Paris will be a giant dance party.
That’s a promise from Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the opening and closing ceremonies for this year’s Olympics and Paralympics.
Jolly says 24 DJs will perform thumping techno and dance music at the Stade de France on Sunday as the curtain falls on the 2024 Paralympics.
“We want to turn the Stade de France into the biggest dance floor to celebrate the end of the Paralympics,” Jolly told The Associated Press in an interview.
Much like during the Paralympic opening ceremony, which featured artists with disabilities and dancers using crutches or wheelchairs, the dance floor will be open for all.
“There will be choreographic sequences that will showcase the body,” Jolly said.
The closing ceremony marks the end of Paris’ Olympic and Paralympic journey. For Jolly, a 42-year-old theater director, it’s the final chapter of a busy summer.
Jolly directed the July 26 opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on the Seine River, which was widely praised but also met some criticism.
Some viewers thought a scene featuring French singer Philippe Katrine disguised as Bacchus, the deity of wine and celebration in the ancient Roman mythology, was a depiction of “The Last Supper,” a famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci that represents Jesus Christ’s last meal with his apostles. Critics considered that a mockery of the Catholic Church. Paris 2024 organizers said they were “sorry” if people took offense.
Though Jolly said his intention was not to mock religion, he and his family faced harassment on social media, including death threats and attacks based on his sexual orientation and wrongly assumed Israeli roots, prompting French authorities to open a hate speech investigation.
“I’ve been doing shows for 20 years, and I’ve had critics on all my theatrical productions,” Jolly said. “Criticism can please, it can hurt. That’s the job. But the attacks, the threats, the insults … that’s a different matter.”
Jolly, who received support from French political leaders including President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, said the controversy did not lead to any changes to the ceremonies that followed.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “Nothing was changed, and nothing should have been changed.”
He noted that all scenes were approved months in advance by the French government, the city of Paris and the International Olympic Committee.
A native of Rouen, Jolly moved to Paris to prepare for the Games, dedicating two and a half years to creating the ceremonies. Much of the preparation for the previous ceremonies took place at night or in remote locations, in an effort to maintain a degree of secrecy.
Preparations for Sunday’s closing ceremony are no different. With the Stade de France hosting Paralympic athletics competitions during the day, many of the rehearsals take place at night.
“I fully dedicated myself to the job,” Jolly said. “I did not celebrate anything yet, I did not party, I did not even had time to rewatch the ceremonies on TV.”
Jolly said he’s considering writing a book about his Olympic experience before returning to his roots in theater.
“I don’t think I’ll ever have an audience like that (of the Olympic opening ceremony) again in my life,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter. There are also important things that can happen in a 50-seat theater.”
