Meal-kit company HelloFresh has dropped Lea Michele after her former “Glee” co-star Samantha Ware said Michele made her life a “living hell” on the show. Ware tweeted on Monday that Michele made “traumatic microaggressions” on the show, which made her question having a career in Hollywood. “HelloFresh does not condone racism nor discrimination of any
The Weeknd, who on Monday donated $500,000 to black-empowerment organizations, urged the three major labels, Sony, Universal and Warner, and top two streaming services, Spotify and Apple, to “go big and public” with donations this week. “To my fellow respected industry partners and execs,” he wrote in a post on social media. “No one profits
By the time the Washington Redskins posted a black square to stand against racism — yes, the Washington Redskins — #BlackoutTuesday was well and truly done for. Hours before, a barrage of black squares hit Instagram with solemn captions vowing to stay silent on social media for one whole day. The original idea behind the social
Character actor Peggy Pope, who played the alcoholic office secretary in the hit comedy movie “9 to 5,” died on May 27 in Fort Collins, Colo. She was 91. Pope’s family announced her passing and plans for a June 27 celebration of life. Pope was born as Florence Margaret Pope in Montclair, N.J., and graduated from
Donna Langley, chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, has called on Los Angeles County authorities to resume all film and television production, following the submission of a 22-page blueprint outlining coronavirus safety guidelines. Representing the wider industry on a conference call with the county’s Economic Resilience Task Force on Tuesday, Langley highlighted a white paper
As KABC/Channel 7 anchor Marc Brown covers the ongoing protests against police brutality, as well as the unrest that has followed, he’s mindful of not repeating some of ways that local TV did — and didn’t — cover the 1992 Los Angeles uprising. “In 1992, it became just coverage of looting, coverage of fires,” he
President Donald Trump’s executive order aiming to strip social-media companies’ protection from legal liability for speech on their platforms is unconstitutional, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by a nonprofit technology policy group. The D.C.-based Center for Democracy & Technology filed a federal lawsuit naming Trump as a defendant “in his official capacity as President
Twitter has a new chairman: Patrick Pichette, who most recently was Google’s chief financial officer. Omid Kordestani — another ex-Google exec — stepped down as Twitter’s executive chairman, effective June 1, and will remain on the board as a non-employee director. Pichette has served as the company’s lead independent director since Dec. 31, 2018. Pichette’s
Thirteen can be a petulant age, but hell hath no fury like the pubescent heroine of “Becky,” who has the ill luck to confront a gang of escaped cons — though that’s definitely worse luck for them, as it turns out. Offering fairly brutal action on the verge of black comedy, this indie thriller from
Theme parks in Los Angeles County are urging local officials to allow them to reopen between mid-June and July 1, arguing that they can do so safely. Karen Irwin, president and chief operating officer of Universal Studios Hollywood, asked the L.A. County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to allow theme park workers to return to
BET has announced a series of special programs on Tuesday in response to the continued civil unrest across the United States following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. The first special, “Justice Now: A BET News Special,” airs on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT and will feature dialogue with George
Lea Seydoux, the French star of Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” will headline “Party of Fools” (“Le Bal des Folles”), a high-profile period drama-thriller to be directed by Arnaud des Pallières. The female-driven movie is produced by two of France’s biggest producers, Philippe Rousselet and Jonathan Blumental, at the Paris-based company Prelude. The pair previously
The East-West tussle between efficient authoritarianism and the wealthy but decaying democratic-capitalist model has seen blood spilled daily on the streets of Hong Kong — even more so now that coronavirus is on the wane and social distancing is being relaxed. For that reason, there was a palpable sigh of relief from stock markets in
For the third night in a row, Los Angeles County has issued a 6 p.m. curfew on Tuesday, following another night in which police arrested hundreds of people for curfew violations and for failing to disperse. The curfew will lift at 6 a.m. on Wednesday. Beverly Hills has issued an even earlier curfew, starting at
Craig Gore, a writer whose credits include “S.W.A.T.” and “Chicago P.D.,” has been fired from Dick Wolf’s upcoming “Law & Order” spinoff series after controversial Facebook posts about looters and the recent curfew put in place across Los Angeles. “I will not tolerate this conduct, especially during our hour of national grief. I am terminating
A day ahead of the Cannes Film Festival’s announcement of the Official Selection of films set to receive the ‘Cannes 2020’ label on June 3, the festival’s artistic director Thierry Fremaux penned a letter to contextualize this year’s unlikely edition. While the festival’s physical edition was canceled in April following the French government’s ban on
Directors Guild of America president Thomas Schlamme and national executive director Russell Hollander have spoken out against the death of George Floyd and racism in the U.S. “As our nation mourns the senseless killing of George Floyd and so many other people of color, the Directors Guild of America stands in solidarity with those peaceful
The second album by rising rapper Gunna debuted at No. 1 on the album chart, a place where it’s recently been abundantly clear that black art matters. Reflecting African American musicians’ ongoing dominance of popular music this year, black artists claim the top six spots on the chart this week, seven out of the top
Joe Biden slammed President Donald Trump in a speech on Tuesday for the way he has handled the protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody last week. The former vice president condemned Trump for his photo op in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church on Monday — a public relations stunt which
Hackman Capital Partners, the owners of Television City, have commented on the LAPD’s use of the studio complex during the large-scale protests in Los Angeles on Saturday. “As we fight a global pandemic, we are reminded of the deep wounds in our country that must be addressed and healed,” Hackman Capital said in a statement
There’s little question that the rollout of Blackout Tuesday, the music industry’s attempt to take a symbolic pause for the day in a statement of solidarity with the black community, was hasty and more than a little haphazard — but the use of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag by Blackout Tuesday participants has ended up inadvertently suppressing
In a world more like the one we knew four months ago, Killer Mike would have been promoting “RTJ4,” the new album from Run the Jewels, his group with El-P, this week. But coronavirus, the death of George Floyd at the hand of Minneapolis police, and the ensuing violent protests across the entire country have
Facebook is making it easier for users to wipe out embarrassing or otherwise personally painful posts. The social-media giant announced Manage Activity, a new feature to make it easier for users to delete or hide many posts at once. “Whether you’re entering the job market after college or moving on from an old relationship, we
The Malaysian government has authorized a return to production for film and TV productions from June 10. “Previously, I had said shooting of films, TV and advertisements can resume after Hari Raya. It’s been decided, these productions can resume starting from June 10, 2020,” senior minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said on Tuesday. “However, every production
“Just Mercy,” the 2019 film about the work of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, has been made available for free rental on digital platforms during the month of June by Warner Bros. Pictures. Destin Daniel Cretton directed the real-life legal drama, which stars Michael B. Jordan as Stevenson, who defends Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx) in
Recently formed rights business International Literary Properties (ILP) has acquired the literary estates of 12 writers, including Evelyn Waugh and Georges Simenon, from U.K. agency Peters, Fraser + Dunlop. The eight-figure multi-estates deal sees London and New York-based ILP acquire the rights for the literary estates of writers Georges Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund
Black Lives Matter has a purview much larger than the music industry, but the issues it addresses are front and center on Blackout Tuesday (June 2), in which the music business is essentially stopping everyday operations in a show of solidarity, and to seek ways to create change. In tandem with Blackout Tuesday, the collective
As part of the music industry’s Blackout Tuesday protest against racism, Spotify and SiriusXM will go silent in symbolic moments of silence to acknowledge the death of George Floyd. Audio-streaming giant Spotify, as part of its Blackout Tuesday initiatives, is including an 8-minute, 46-second track of silence on select playlists and podcasts. That is meant
ABC News will tonight air a live primetime special, “America in Pain” What Comes Next?,” centered on the spread of protests around the country, the latest TV-news outlet to create special programming in response to a unique time in national affairs. The one-hour program will air at 9 p.m. eastern, anchored by Robin Roberts, David
The Weather Channel is the latest media outlet to join OpenAP, the consortium of media companies working to help advertisers buy TV with some of the new methodologies they say they crave. OpenAP was the first of several new companies formed to spur the concept known as “audience buying,” offering technologies and measurement that let