Politics

Members of the Writers Guild of America West are being urged to donate to the union’s political action committee, as Hollywood vents its outrage about Republican senators’ move to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the election. Michael Schur, showrunner of “The Good Place,” sent a memo to members on Friday urging them to donate to

Two people severely injured in a knife attack outside the former Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo are staff at production company Premieres Lignes, which made HBO documentary “Three Days of Terror: The Charlie Hebdo Attacks.” Variety has confirmed with Premieres Lignes co-director Paul Moreira that two of the company’s producers were involved

Five Republican senators have sent a letter to Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, challenging the streamer’s decision to adapt “The Three-Body Problem,” a Chinese sci-fi trilogy. The senators, led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, argue that the author of the trilogy, Liu Cixin, made disparaging remarks about Uyghur Muslims in an interview last year, and

UPDATED U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has unveiled a new job protection scheme starting Nov. 1 that is valid for six months, replacing the job retention scheme that ends in October. Addressing the House of Commons, Sunak revealed that the Job Support Scheme will directly support the wages of people in work, giving

Arnold Schwarzenegger announced on Wednesday that he will provide grants to allow local jurisdictions to reopen polling places, largely in the South. The initiative represents a significant departure for the former California governor, who has until now focused his election reform activities almost entirely on gerrymandering. Schwarzenegger is targeting the effort to states formerly covered

As a deal deciding the fate of TikTok hangs in the balance, the Chinese-owned video app is seeking a preliminary injunction to halt the Trump administration’s order that would ban app stores from carrying TikTok in the U.S. as of Sept. 27. TikTok alleges that Trump cited “national security” concerns as a pretext for trying

Hasan Minhaj, the host of Netflix’s “Patriot Act,” will keynote an event for the Texas Democratic Party on Thursday, as the state party seeks to boost its appeal to Asian American voters. Minhaj will appear at the Johnson-Jordan dinner, an annual fundraiser for the state party that is being held virtually this year. Also on

UPDATED: England has imposed a fresh set of restrictions to stall the rapid spread of coronavirus that will be valid for the next six months, but so far, film and TV production remains unaffected. The devolved administrations of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will issue their own guidelines. Those who can work from home are

The fate of TikTok isn’t fully settled yet. In a sign that the talks over the ownership transfer of TikTok to U.S.-controlled parties — forced by the Trump administration — could potentially get derailed, Oracle and ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent, are making different claims about who will own what in the newly reincarnated TikTok Global.

WeChat, the Chinese messaging app that was set to get effectively switched off for American users Sunday night, for now will still be available and operational in the U.S. A federal judge in San Francisco issued a ruling early Sunday issuing a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration’s order to ban the WeChat app, which

TikTok users in the U.S. got a one-week reprieve from the Trump administration’s download ban on the popular short-form video app. The announcement of the postponement of the ban came after President Trump gave his “blessing” to a multiparty deal under which TikTok will become majority-owned by a group of U.S. companies and investors: Oracle

Oracle said it will take a 12.5% stake in the new TikTok Global, a U.S.-based entity formed from the Trump administration’s demand that the popular video app’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divest its U.S. operations to American owners. Oracle confirmed its plans to take the ownership stake in TikTok shortly after President Trump said Saturday

Celebrities and political figures took to social media to express their condolences and share reactions after the news of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death broke Friday. Ginsburg, who was 87, is most known for her fearless defense of gender equality and women’s rights. She recently announced her cancer had returned, although she said

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court Justice who established herself as a trailblazer for women’s rights and gender equality, has died, the Supreme Court announced. She was 87. Ginsburg recently announced her cancer had returned, and said she would be undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Despite her age and long medical history, Ginsburg, a liberal voice on

Country singer Tyler Childers has released a six-minute video statement in which he urges fans, particularly those who share his Appalachian roots, to empathize with the anger and despair being expressed by the Black community in the wake of a wave of deaths at the hands of police. He says he reluctantly recorded the speech

The Trump administration made good on its threat to block U.S. users from accessing TikTok and WeChat, announcing that American businesses will be banned from distributing either of the Chinese-owned apps effective Sunday. Industry experts say the app ban is without precedent in the U.S., while free speech advocates said the bans on TikTok and

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney has resigned from her position as the U.K.’s special envoy on media freedom. Clooney’s decision is in protest against the U.K.’s intention to pass the Internal Market Bill that is designed to ensure barrier-free trade between the four U.K. nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland after the Brexit

The U.S. government will prohibit app stores from offering new downloads of TikTok and WeChat, two popular Chinese-owned apps, effective Sunday over the Trump administration’s claims that it wants to prevent the Chinese government from accessing data on Americans. The new rules, issued Friday by the Commerce Department, is pursuant to President Trump’s executive orders

UPDATED: Michelle Obama is taking over Instagram Live next week — with several celebrity guests — for a seven-and-a-half-hour event urging Americans to register to vote. The Registered and Ready Takeover, organized by the former First Lady’s When We All Vote nonprofit advocacy organization, will take place Tuesday, Sept. 22, which is National Voter Registration

Kesha, Anthony Hamilton, Los Lobos and more will perform in the Biden for President campaign’s new online concert series. The campaign announced that “Team Joe Sings” will launch Sept. 17 at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. The weekly performances will take place every Thursday through Election Day, featuring a new group of artists supporting the

Donald Trump twice posted a bogus video on Twitter of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, falsely edited to include NWA’s “F— tha Police” and make it look like Biden was praising the ’80s protest song. At 12:17 a.m. ET Wednesday, Trump tweeted the video, asking, “What is this all about?” Trump again tweeted the video later

Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph hosted a “grassroots” fundraiser on Monday, along with Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton, that raised more than $6 million for the Democratic ticket. Separately, billionaire Haim Saban hosted a more intimate fundraiser with Joe Biden, priced at $500,000 per person. That event — also held virtually — raised $4.5 million.

Oracle could become the “technology provider” for TikTok under a deal reached with China’s ByteDance, Oracle said Monday, under a Trump administration order forcing the divestiture of TikTok U.S. assets. The software company’s official confirmation comes after Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC Monday that the U.S. government received a proposal

Antifa is a way of life, a belief, and to criminalize it is itself criminal, according to Julia von Heinz. The German director’s latest film, “And Tomorrow the Entire World,” just premiered in competition in Venice, where it wowed critics with a very personal story about young left-wing activists fighting what they see as a

Haim Saban, the media billionaire who is a fixture in Democratic Party fundraising, is organizing a $500,000-per-person fundraiser for Joe Biden next Monday. Saban has long said he is “a one-issue guy, and my issue is Israel.” In a statement supporting Biden, Saban said the former vice president will “ensure that the strong, bipartisan alliance

The Atlantic acquired more than 20,000 paying subscribers in the five-day period after it published editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg’s damning article about President Trump denigrating U.S. military personnel who died in combat. On Sept. 3, the Atlantic published “Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers,’” largely based on anonymous sources. The 20,000-plus new

It’s the final weeks of the presidential race and, as usual, entertainers are getting out the vote for the Democratic nominee. But in Los Angeles, some members of the entertainment community are focused on a race that’s much closer to home. Many celebrities and TV writers are rallying behind Nithya Raman, a Harvard grad and

President Donald Trump has lashed out at Laurene Powell Jobs, the billionaire business executive and widow of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, due to her majority stake in The Atlantic. “Steve Jobs would not be happy that his wife is wasting money he left her on a failing Radical Left Magazine that is run by

Facebook and Twitter both placed warning labels on Donald Trump’s messages shared on the platforms encouraging U.S. voters to cast mail-in ballots and then show up in person at local polls to “see whether or not your your Mail In Vote has been Tabulated (Counted).” On Thursday, in identical messages posted to Facebook and Twitter,

Facebook is continuing its campaign to try persuade Americans that it’s doing everything it can to ensure the social platform isn’t going to gum up the U.S. elections this November. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday announced additional steps the company is taking to help secure the “integrity” of U.S. elections by encouraging voting, steering