Hollywood is grappling with concerns over free speech and censorship after comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s show was abruptly pulled from the air over his monologue comments about the shooting of Charlie Kirk. Peter White, executive editor of television at Deadline, joins CBS News to unpack the chain of events that led to ABC’s decision.
Jay Leno is a lover of all things mechanical; his garage is the Chocolate Factory, and he’s Willy Wonka. Harrison Ford is a lover of all things practical; he’s the Grandpa Joe, springing into action when there’s something to do. Put the two together, well, let’s just say a 3-D printer hates to see them coming. In the middle of an NPRinterview, Leno calls Ford to talk about… his toilet seat? “Yeah, Jay’s printing a 3-D printed toilet seat for me,” Ford said nonchalantly. But why?! “Because I asked him.” Okay, maybe he’s less of a Grandpa Joe than we thought. “He’s incredibly invested in machinery… and I had this toilet seat from a toilet that’s not in production anymore. And the toilet seat has discolored in a way that’s really unattractive,” he laughed. He then wondered if he could 3-D print the seat and thought of the one man who could do the job: “Ah, Jay Leno!” And Leno was up for the challenge. Ford concluded, “He embraced the project in a way I could’ve never imagined.” Do you think Leno prints pickleball paddles, too?
Comedian Jay Leno on Friday filed in California for a conservatorship over the estate of his wife of 43 years, Mavis Leno, after she was diagnosed with dementia, according to court documents.
The petition, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and obtained by “Entertainment Tonight,” said that the 77-year-old Mavis “has been progressively losing capacity and orientation to space and time for several years,” and her “current condition renders her incapable of executing the estate plan.”
The court documents said that Leno “has always handled the couple’s finances throughout” their marriage, and he seeks to create a trust for their joint estate that would “ensure Mavis has managed assets sufficient to provide for her care” should he die before her.
Leno’s estate plan will also provide for Mavis’s brother, who is “her sole living heir aside from Jay.” The couple does not have children.
Jay Leno and Mavis Leno attend the private unveiling of the Meyers Manx electric automobile at Little Beach House Malibu on Aug. 8, 2022, in Malibu, California.
Getty Images
It’s unclear when she was first diagnosed. A doctor’s report included in the court documents, dated Nov. 28, 2023, describes Mavis’ dementia diagnosis and her symptoms. The doctor wrote that “it is my professional opinion that, due to her condition, Mavis is unable to meaningfully participate in the hearing on the Petition to Appoint a Probate Conservator nor would she understand the nature, force or effect of the hearing should she attend.”
The doctor also checked a box in the report which said that Mavis “lacks the capacity to give informed consent to any form of medical treatment.”
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for April 9. “Entertainment Tonight” has reached out to Leno for comment. CBS News reached out to Leo’s representation for comment.
The 73-year-old Leno himself has had multiple health scares in recent years. In November 2022, the former host of “The Tonight Show” suffered serious burns from a gasoline fire while working in his vintage car garage in Burbank. Then, just two months later, he broke several bones in a motorcycle crash.
Leno hosted “The Tonight Show” from 1992 to 2009, and then again from 2010 to 2014, after a short stint in between by comedian Conan O’Brien, who was controversially dismissed due to poor ratings.
In a 2014 interview with “60 Minutes,” on the eve of Leno’s second departure from the show, Mavis came to the defense of her husband.
“It made me angry, because there was this perception that for some reason Jay had decided to give up the show,” Mavis told ’60 Minutes.’ “It was like he gave the show to Conan and then he took it back. That was not what happened, OK?”
Faris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast.
Comedian Jay Leno is seeking to become conservator over his wife Mavis Leno’s affairs because she has dementia.
Leno filed court documents Friday to ask a family court judge to grant the conservatorship so he can structure a living trust and other estate plans to make sure that his 77-year-old wife has “managed assets sufficient to provide for her care” should he die before her, according to a copy of the petition filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
“Unfortunately, Mavis has been progressively losing capacity and orientation to space and time for several years,” the petition said. “Jay is fully capable of continuing support for Mavis’s physical and financial needs, as he has throughout their marriage.”
The filing said that her “current condition renders her incapable of executing the estate plan.” The court documents said she was being treated for “dementia and mood disorder.”
The couple has been married 43 years.
Leno, through a spokesperson, declined to comment on Saturday.
Jay Leno on the set of the game show “You Bet Your Life” in Pacoima in 2021.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
It was unclear when Mavis Leno was first diagnosed with the disease, but a doctor’s report from November, filed as part of the court proceedings, said she suffered with impairments to her memory, ability to concentrate and use of reason.
The documents said a conservatorship was needed to allow Jay Leno to execute estate plans, “which will provide for Mavis and Mavis’s brother [who is] her sole living heir aside from Jay.” Leno, who is 73, and Mavis Leno do not have children. They live in Beverly Hills.
“Jay Leno has always handled the couple’s finances through the term of their 43-year marriage, and will continue to do so until his passing,” the petition said.
Throughout their marriage, Mavis Leno independently pursued her own progressive causes, including fighting a proposed California ballot proposition against affirmative action in the mid-1990s.
She was a board member of the Feminist Majority Foundation and chairwoman of its Campaign for Afghan Women and Girls to ensure that “the women and girls of Afghanistan are not forgotten,” according to the group’s website. The foundation’s campaign for Afghan women was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
Shortly after the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, Mavis and Jay Leno donated $100,000 as seed money for the Feminist Majority Foundation’s global women’s rights program.
Jay Leno at NBCUniversal’s Summer TCA Tour in Beverly Hills in 2015.
(Richard Shotwell / Invision / Associated Press)
“She is someone with a strong sense of purpose, compassion and curiosity,” author Sue Smalley wrote about a decade ago in the Los Angeles Times after interviewing Mavis Leno and her famous husband. “She arrives first, on time [and] doesn’t need hair or makeup.”
The couple met at L.A.’s famed Comedy Store in 1976.
“I always had this idea that I would never get married,” she told People magazine in a 1987 interview. “But with Jay, I began to realize that this was the first time I was ever with someone where I had a perfect, calm sense of having arrived at my destination.”
Separately, she described meeting Leno in an interview with The Times.
“It was in January. … I thought, ‘Holy s–t! That comedian is gorgeous!” Mavis Leno recalled in a 2014 interview, saying friends had encouraged her to “ ‘hang out at the Comedy Store and the Improv — you’ll meet people who can give you jobs.’ ”
“The first time I went, they sat us front row center. That means you’re this far from the comic. And there was Jay,” she said.
Later that evening, she went to the bathroom, which was near an area where the comedians hung out between their sets.
“When I came out of the bathroom, he said, ‘Are you that girl in front?’ ” Mavis Leno recalled. “I said, ‘Yes, that was me.’ ”
Staff writer Stacy Perman contributed to this report.
Jay Leno is back to his routine, taking to the comedy club stage one more after yet another painful accident involving one of his beloved vehicles.
Leno returned to the Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, California, on Sunday, and eyewitness tells ET.
The 72-year-old comic had cancelled his traditional Sunday show there the last two weekends. However, upon his return, the eyewitness says Leno wasn’t wearing a sling and appeared fine, given he broke several bones.
Leno’s return to the stage comes just a few days after he revealed that he’d recently suffered a frightening motorcycle crash.
“I got knocked off my motorcycle,” he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “So I’ve got a broken collarbone. I’ve got two broken ribs. I’ve got two cracked kneecaps.”
As for how it all unfolded, the “Tonight Show” alum told the outlet he smelled leaking gas while testing a 1940 Indian motorcycle on Jan. 17. “So I turned down a side street and cut through a parking lot, and unbeknownst to me, some guy had a wire strung across the parking lot but with no flag hanging from it,” he recalled. “So, you know, I didn’t see it until it was too late. It just clothesline me and, boom, knocked me off the bike.”
Still, the car enthusiast assured he’s OK and working. As for the accident, it seems he’d rather not make a big deal of it.
“You know, after getting burned up, you get that one for free,” he said. “After that, you’re Harrison Ford, crashing airplanes. You just want to keep your head down.”
While Leno has performances lined up through April, fans have learned there’s one show of his that won’t go on: his long-running series, “Jay Leno’s Garage”. Citing a CNBC source, The Hollywood Reporter reported on Thursday that the show has been cancelled after seven seasons.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two months after undergoing surgery for serious burns, Jay Leno is now contending with a number of broken bones after being knocked off a motorcycle.
The comedian and former “Tonight Show” host told a Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Thursday that he broke his collarbone and two ribs and cracked his kneecaps on Jan. 17.
The November garage fire and January wreck both stemmed from his passion for working on vintage vehicles. He suffered burns on his face, hands and chest in a gasoline fire while repairing the fuel line on a vintage car. Last week, it was a vintage motorcycle.
He told the Review-Journal’s John Katsilometes he was testing a 1940 motorcycle when he noticed the scent of leaking gas.
“So I turned down a side street and cut through a parking lot, and unbeknownst to me, some guy had a wire strung across the parking lot but with no flag hanging from it,” Leno, 72, said. “So, you know, I didn’t see it until it was too late.”
He insisted he was OK and would even be working this weekend, adding that the intense coverage of the November fire made him reluctant to say anything in the days since last week’s accident.
Leno took over NBC’s “Tonight” when longtime host Johnny Carson retired in 1992. He was succeeded by Conan O’Brien in 2009, but NBC got cold feet when the show’s ratings dropped and brought Leno back as host in 2010. He remained in the job until Jimmy Fallon took over in 2014.
Leno turned his love of cars into a CNBC series, “Jay Leno’s Garage,” and hosts a revival of the game show “You Bet Your Life.”
He was hospitalized for nine days after the fire but was back performing stand-up at a Southern California club six days after his release, People reported last year.
Two months after undergoing surgery for serious burns, Jay Leno is now contending with a number of broken bones after being knocked off a motorcycle.
The comedian and former “Tonight Show” host told a Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Thursday that he broke his collarbone and two ribs and cracked his kneecaps on Jan. 17.
The November garage fire and January wreck both stemmed from his passion for working on vintage vehicles. He suffered burns on his face, hands and chest in a gasoline fire while repairing the fuel line on a vintage car. Last week, it was a vintage motorcycle.
He told the Review-Journal’s John Katsilometes he was testing a 1940 motorcycle when he noticed the scent of leaking gas.
“So I turned down a side street and cut through a parking lot, and unbeknownst to me, some guy had a wire strung across the parking lot but with no flag hanging from it,” Leno, 72, said. “So, you know, I didn’t see it until it was too late.”
He insisted he was OK and would even be working this weekend, adding that the intense coverage of the November fire made him reluctant to say anything in the days since last week’s accident.
Leno took over NBC’s “Tonight” when longtime host Johnny Carson retired in 1992. He was succeeded by Conan O’Brien in 2009, but NBC got cold feet when the show’s ratings dropped and brought Leno back as host in 2010. He remained in the job until Jimmy Fallon took over in 2014.
Leno turned his love of cars into a CNBC series, “Jay Leno’s Garage,” and hosts a revival of the game show “You Bet Your Life.”
He was hospitalized for nine days after the fire but was back performing stand-up at a Southern California club six days after his release, People reported last year.
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Jay Leno reportedly broke several bones in a motorcycle accident last week, only months after he suffered serious burns to his face, chest and hands in a garage fire.
The former Tonight Show host told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he was knocked off his motorcycle on Jan. 17. The fall broke Leno’s collarbone and two ribs and cracked both of his kneecaps.
“But I’m OK!” Leno told the outlet. “I’m OK, I’m working. I’m working this weekend.”
Leno, 72, said the accident occurred when he was working on a vintage vehicle. While test-riding a 1940 Indian motorcycle, Leno said he noticed the smell of leaking gas.
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“I turned down a side street and cut through a parking lot, and unbeknownst to me, some guy had a wire strung across the parking lot but with no flag hanging from it,” he said, sharing how he was clotheslined by the wire and knocked off the motorcycle. “So, you know, I didn’t see it until it was too late.”
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The garage fire at Leno’s Los Angeles home was also started while the comedian was working on another vintage vehicle, a 1907 White Steam Car, in November 2022. When the car’s fuel line clogged, Leno laid under the vehicle to blow air through the line. He told Today host Hoda Kotb that he got a “face full of gas” and then caught on fire.
He was treated for third-degree burns at Grossman Burn Center in West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles. He remained in care for 10 days.
Leno said he did not discuss his motorcycle accident publicly because news coverage of his garage fire was so widespread.
“You know, after getting burned up, you get that one for free,” Leno said. “After that, you’re Harrison Ford, crashing airplanes. You just want to keep your head down.”
Despite his injuries, Leno is still performing standup comedy. He is preparing to headline at the Encore Theater in Las Vegas for the first time on March 31. The performance will be his first appearance in Las Vegas since the fire in November.
Jay Leno is returning to the comedy stage Sunday night, two weeks after sustaining significant burn injuries in a gasoline fire.
The former “Tonight Show” host will perform in front of a sold-out crowd at the Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, California, according to a spokesperson for the club.
The 72-year-old underwent two surgical procedures to treat his injuries, his physician, Dr. Peter Grossman, said. Leno suffered burns to his face and hands.
His doctor noted that Leno was walking around and cracking jokes during his stay at the Grossman Burn Center.
The hospital announced in a November 21 news statement that Leno had been released.
“Jay will receive follow-up care at the Grossman Outpatient Burn Clinic for burns to his face, chest and hands he received during a fire at his home garage,” the statement said.
Grossman said he was pleased with Leno’s recovery and “optimistic that he will make a full recovery.”
“Jay would like to let everyone know how thankful he is for the care he received, and is very appreciative of all of the well wishes,” the hospital added. “He is looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with his family and friends and wishes everyone a wonderful holiday.”
Leno is slated to perform three additional shows at the Comedy and Magic Club in December.
Comedian Jay Leno was released from a Los Angeles burn center on Monday. He thanked the team that treated him for 10 days after he suffered serious burns to his face, chest and hands while working on one of his classic cars.
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Veteran comedian and TV personality Jay Leno was discharged from a hospital in Los Angeles on Monday after he was seriously burned in a car fire earlier this month.
The 72-year-old posed for a photo with staff at the Grossman Burn Center before his departure, revealing some of the injuries he sustained. He spent 10 days at the hospital and will continue with outpatient care for burns to his face, chest and hands, the hospital said in a news release.
“I am pleased with Jay’s progress, and I am optimistic that he will make a full recovery,” Dr. Peter Grossman, medical director of the facility, said in the statement.
Last Monday, Leno said he was in recovery and doing “OK” after he suffered “serious burns from a gasoline fire.”
Leno, a car and motorbike enthusiast and host of the show “Jay Leno’s Garage,” had reportedly been in his Los Angeles garage on Nov. 12 when a vintage car went up in flames. Leno stores his collection of vehicles at the facility.
Jay Leno has been discharged from the hospital after sustaining burn injuries in a gasoline fire about nine days ago.
The former “Tonight Show” host, 72, was discharged from Grossman Burn Center in Los Angeles on Monday, the Center announced in a statement, along with sharing a photo of the comedian with some members of his care team.
“Comedian Jay Leno was released from the Grossman Burn Center today,” the hospital said in a press release. “Jay will receive follow-up care at the Grossman Outpatient Burn Clinic for burns to his face, chest and hands he received during a fire at his home garage.”
Leno, an avid car collector, had been working underneath a vehicle on when he was burned. He has undergone two surgical procedures to treat his injuries, Dr. Peter Grossman, his physician, previously announced.
“I am pleased with Jay’s progress, and I am optimistic that he will make a full recovery,” Grossman said Monday.
“Jay would like to let everyone know how thankful he is for the care he received, and is very appreciative of all of the well wishes,” the hospital added in their statement. “He is looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with his family and friends and wishes everyone a wonderful holiday.”
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jay Leno underwent surgery for serious burns suffered when flames erupted as he worked on a vintage car and remains hospitalized for further treatment, the physician overseeing his care said Wednesday.
The former “Tonight Show” host was in good condition and his wife, Mavis, is with him at the Grossman Burn Center north of Los Angeles, said Peter H. Grossman, medical director of the center at West Hills Hospital.
“He is in good spirits today,” Grossman told a televised news conference. Last weekend, Leno suffered burns to his face, hands and chest that the plastic surgeon categorized as second-degree or verging on more severe.
Some of the facial wounds “are a little bit deeper and a little more concerning” because they’re showing signs of progressing to third-degree, as can happen with burns, Grossman said.
Treatment intended to keep the burns from worsening includes high-pressure oxygen therapy to stimulate healing, along with surgery in which the burn wounds are cleaned and shaved away, he said. A temporary “biological skin substitute” is placed over the area, he said.
Leno came through one surgery well and a second is planned this week, Grossman said. The comedian is up and walking, telling jokes and is a hit with the staff, even giving out cookies to young patients.
The fire occurred at the Burbank garage where Leno stores his famed collection of cars and other motor vehicles. In a statement earlier this week, Leno referred to the burns as “serious” but said he would need only “a week or two to get back on my feet.”
Grossman said he appreciated Leno’s eagerness but has cautioned him to be realistic.
“I had to tell him that he needs to step back a little bit and just realize that some of this takes time,” he said. “He’s very compliant, he understands that. I think he’s realizing that he does need to perhaps take it a little slower than he initially anticipated.”
The doctor said he expects Leno to make a full recovery but that it was too early to know if there would be “remnants” of the injury. He didn’t elaborate.
LOS ANGELES — Jay Leno underwent surgery for serious burns suffered when flames erupted as he worked on a vintage car and remains hospitalized for further treatment, the physician overseeing his care said Wednesday.
The former “Tonight Show” host was in good condition and his wife, Mavis, is with him at the Grossman Burn Center north of Los Angeles, said Peter H. Grossman, medical director of the center at West Hills Hospital.
“He is in good spirits today,” Grossman told a televised news conference. Last weekend, Leno suffered burns to his face, hands and chest that the plastic surgeon categorized as second-degree or verging on more severe.
Some of the facial wounds “are a little bit deeper and a little more concerning” because they’re showing signs of progressing to third-degree, as can happen with burns, Grossman said.
Treatment intended to keep the burns from worsening includes high-pressure oxygen therapy to stimulate healing, along with surgery in which the burn wounds are cleaned and shaved away, he said. A temporary “biological skin substitute” is placed over the area, he said.
Leno came through one surgery well and a second is planned this week, Grossman said. The comedian is up and walking, telling jokes and is a hit with the staff, even giving out cookies to young patients.
The fire occurred at the Burbank garage where Leno stores his famed collection of cars and other motor vehicles. In a statement earlier this week, Leno referred to the burns as “serious” but said he would need only “a week or two to get back on my feet.”
Grossman said he appreciated Leno’s eagerness but has cautioned him to be realistic.
“I had to tell him that he needs to step back a little bit and just realize that some of this takes time,” he said. “He’s very compliant, he understands that. I think he’s realizing that he does need to perhaps take it a little slower than he initially anticipated.”
The doctor said he expects Leno to make a full recovery but that it was too early to know if there would be “remnants” of the injury. He didn’t elaborate.
Jay Leno’s doctor said the comedian has undergone a skin graft procedure and is expected to have another surgery this week as he recovers from serious burns.
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Jay Leno is expected to fully recover from the burn injuries he sustained over the weekend, according to a doctor treating his injuries.
Dr. Peter Grossman, the president of the Los Angeles Society of Plastic Surgeons and medical director of the Grossman Burn Center, said during a Wednesday press conference that the comedian, 72, has undergone one surgery and is expected to have another this week to treat the deep second-degree and possible third-degree burns that he suffered from a gasoline fire.
“His burns include his face, his hands and his chest. The burns are fairly significant,” Grossman said, according to CBS Los Angeles. “He has undergone one surgery so far, he did well with that surgery, he is in good spirits today.”
Other treatments include therapy in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to help healing and reduce swelling, Grossman said, and a second surgery for skin grafts scheduled for this week.
CBS Los Angeles reported that one of Leno’s vintage cars erupted in flames on Saturday while the former host of “The Tonight Show” was working on it. ja
“When he got pulled out from the area underneath the car, it was noted that he had pretty significant burns to face and hands,” Grossman said, according to CBS Boston.
Comedian Jay Leno performs a standup routine at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland Fla. on Jan. 5, 2019.
Reinhold Matay / AP
“His injuries are serious, his condition is good. I do anticipate him making a full recovery,” Grossman added.
“Just need a week or two to get back on my feet,” Leno said in part.
During the press conference, Grossman said Leno was a kind and engaging patient who passed out cookies to children undergoing treatment at the hospital, according to CBS Los Angeles.
“He’s Jay Leno, he’s walking around, he’s cracking jokes,” Grossman said, also noting that Leno is “incredibly kind” to the hospital staff.
On Monday, the burn center released a statement saying Leno was “in good humor” and “stable condition” after the accident.
Former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno is recovering from serious burns after one of his cars burst into flames. Leno said it was a gasoline fire and that he just needs a week or two to get back on his feet.
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Jay Leno is recovering after being seriously injured in a gasoline fire, the comedian confirmed to CBS News.
On Monday, the former “Tonight Show” host confirmed reports of a recent medical emergency, saying he suffered “serious burns” from a gasoline fire.
“I got some serious burns from a gasoline fire. I am OK. Just need a week or two to get back on my feet,” Leno said in a statement.
Jay Leno in a 2018 file photo.
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
TMZ reported that one of Leno’s cars erupted in flames on Sunday in his vintage car garage in Burbank, leaving the comedian with burns on the left side of his face — sparing his eyes and ears.
Leno, 72, was taken to the Grossman Burn Center in West Hills for treatment.
“Jay wants everyone to know that he is in stable condition and receiving treatment at the Grossman Burn Center for burns that he received to his face and hands from a gasoline accident in his garage over the weekend,” the Grossman Burn Center said in a statement. “He is in good humor and is touched by all the inquiries into his condition and well wishes.”
Burbank police issued a statement to CBS Los Angeles saying they are aware of the media reports but that the agency “did not respond to the incident, were not requested, nor do we have any information about what took place, or injuries sustained.”
People reported that Leno was forced to cancel a Sunday night appearance at a financial conference in Las Vegas. An email sent to attendees by organizers said that Leno’s family did not provide many details, “but there was a very serious medical emergency that is preventing Jay from traveling. All we know is that he is alive, so our prayers go out to him and his family tonight.”
